On Our Own
by Shaun Garin
Summary: Jack thought he had a life in Mineral Town. When he's called to save Sugar Village, a few friends join in the fray to Save the Homeland. Recently Added - Chapter 6, rating increased to T to cover all basis.
1. Chapter 1 : The Letter

On Our Own  
  
written by Shaun Garin  
  
Harvest Moon Back to Nature and Save the Homeland is owned by Natsume Entertainment. This is my take on Save the Homeland and Back to Nature, which, in my opinion is a very good game, but could have slowed down the passing of time and extended the length of time you need to conceivably save the whole freaking town. Rated E for Everyone, Use of Alcohol.  
  
I hold characterization nothing but sacred. I try to portray the personalities true to both games as best as possible.  
  
======================  
  
Chapter 1 : The Letter  
  
I remember the first time I set foot in the village... not Mineral Town, the place where my heart will always be, but Sugar Village, a small town just a little way into the mainland. It all started that night, that night when Zack came to my door, cheerful as ever even in the last blizzard of Winter the Thirtith. I swear that guy could walk through a hurricane if he set his mind to it, and he probably would do it too.  
  
I'm getting off track. I guess, that day, everything changed, and for once... I wouldn't want to change a thing now that I look back at it...  
  
======================  
  
The insistent rapping roused Jack from his slumber. Rubbing his eyes, he grumbled, shrugging on his robe and trudging out of his bedroom to the front door. After nearly stumbling over his dog, crashing into the counter and stubbing his toe on the tool box, he yanked open the door and growled, "WHAT?!"  
  
Zack merely grinned back at him, chipper as ever. "Well aren't you the little grumpy man in the morning."  
  
Jack groaned as he allowed the large burly man inside. "It's three in the morning, Zack. Can't this wait?"  
  
"Fraid not." Thrusting a large brown envelope at him, the young farmer took it, breaking the seal on it.  
  
Scanning the first document, Jack blinked. "Who send this?"  
  
"Not sure," Zack admitted, leaning on the wall. "Some guy dropped it off at my house about a half hour ago. Said it was urgent that you get it. Does it say who sent it?"  
  
"Looks like.... from my grandpa Tony in Sugar Village. Look at this. Deeds to a farm, and a will, leaving everything to me." Pulling a yellowed paper out from between the pages, Zack peered over. "Look at this. It's a letter from my grandpa." Jack then set it aside as he began to peruse through the rest of the stuff.  
  
"How close were you to your grandfather?" inquired the large man as he sat down across from Jack.  
  
"Pretty close," Jack replied absently, flipping through the legal documents. "I spent some time on his farm, a couple of years before I came here. Great guy. Grandpa and Grandma were always nice to me, especially after Grandpa Leon died and gave me this farm."  
  
"Heavy stuff," Zack admitted.  
  
Jack flipped to one last page. As he read it, his face went ashen. "No way..."  
  
"I take it that's not a good thing," Zack said as Jack nodded.  
  
"You've heard that Sugar Village had fallen on hard times, right?" Jack asked.  
  
"Yeah, it was on the news. Some big wigs are trying to build some massive resort on the property." Zack snorted. "Crazy bunch of loons, tearing up the whole joint. There's too much farmland and the ground is rock hard in places. It'll take them maybe a season to knock down the town and a good several years to build a resort."  
  
"Grandpa... wants me to save the whole town."  
  
Zack collapsed from his chair, waking the dog. "Is he nuts?!" he cried ignoring the whining and soft barking of the irate dog who's slumber he had disturbed. "A farm I can see but a whole TOWN?!"  
  
"Fraid not. Everyone had given up when the project was announced. He wants me to do it. But.... I can't leave here. Not yet."  
  
"Aw man," Zack swore under his breath. "When does the construction begin?" Zack asked, righting himself.  
  
"In one year, just a couple of weeks after the new year." Jack sighed as he stood up, going over to the fridge. "I need something to drink. Something like this isn't going to pass overnight."  
  
"I think I'll join you," Zack said. "Ain't no way I'm leaving now, not that you don't need sleep or nothing."  
  
Jack smirked as he passed the burly man a bottle of Extra Large Turbojolt. "Drink up. It'll keep us awake until tomorrow evening if drunk straight. I'll ask the Harvest Sprites to cover for me while we sort things out."  
  
"Cheers." The pair clinked glasses half heartedly as they drank and began to go over the documents.  
  
After a few hours, Zack sat upright, rubbing his eyes free of sleep. "There's no way," he said. "I can think of a few things but we'd need to check the place out. Something like this would probably only give the town a  
  
couple of months extra."  
  
"I know," Jack replied despondedly. "I think the worst thing has come to pass."  
  
"Hey, it's not that bad," Zack said, patting him on the shoulder. "So the town'll take back the farm. I'm sure they can keep it running while you leave."  
  
"But... I may not come back."  
  
"Oh yeah, there's that too." Zack slumped in his chair. "Gah, I need some sleep. Can I use your bed? Too tired to hoof it back home."  
  
"Sure. There's an extra bed in the bedroom. I'm going to stay up for a bit more, and then get some rest before I go over to the Harvest Sprites house." Jack rubbed his eyes tiredly as he took another sip of Turbojolt.  
  
"Right. Night." With that, the large man stumbled into the room and quickly, the sound of snoring was heard in the house.  
  
=====================  
  
"The place is really jumping today." Ann jumped at least a foot off the ground as she spun to see Karen standing behind her, smirking. "Gotcha."  
  
"Geez," Ann sighed. "Stop doing that."  
  
Peering over the railing, Karen counted the number of people standing or sitting around the tables, waiting for someone. "Everyone's here today. It looks like it's the whole town."  
  
"Zack came by today and spoke to my dad at length about something," Ann added. "I hope they're not planning something drastic."  
  
"I don't see Jack anywhere," Karen said, looking over the railing. "Is he here?"  
  
"I saw him at Barleys' place while I passed by." The girls jumped as Popuri joined the pair. "Hi."  
  
"Is today the day we scare each other?" Ann grumbled, peeved about being startled twice.  
  
"Sorry." The pink haired girl leaned over the railing, looking over the crowd. "All the adults are here, including my mom. I wonder what would be so important as to bring her out? Normally, all the walking she does is to the Clinic and back."  
  
"This must be serious," Karen added, folding her arms. "If all the villagers are gathering, then something must be up."  
  
"But the guys aren't here," Ann pointed out. "I don't see any of them."  
  
"Rick's back at the farm, and I saw Kai at the beach," Popuri put in. "They said they would be coming in a bit."  
  
"Grey and Cliff are at work as well," a soft voice put in, making the girls jump slightly more higher than usual. "Sorry," Elli said, brushing her short brown locks away from her face. "I didn't mean to scare you."  
  
"We're almost used to it," Karen grumped.  
  
"Then I had better not scare you all," Mary said, climbing the steps to where the rest of the girls stood. "I do believe I saw the doctor at the clinic as I passed by."  
  
"Then that means, the adults are waiting for someone," Ann surmised. "But who?"  
  
In a single moment, a light dawned on them. "Jack," they chorused.  
  
As if on cue, the doors swung open as Jack stepped into the room. The clamor died down as the men and women of the village took their seats, Jack stepping to the front table. "Thank you for coming," he said. In one hand, he held a thick envelope, stuffed with paper. "As you all know, Zack and I called you for this meeting, regarding my stay here in the village. The deal was for me to get along with all of you, and bring the farm around in three years. Well, I have most certainly dealt with the farm and everyone doesn't seem to mind me around anymore." At this, there was a low ripple of laughter.  
  
Holding up a hand, Jack continued. "But now, something else has come up. It is my sad duty, to hand over the farm to the village, in lieu of my leave-taking." Collective gasps were heard as the girls atop the balcony  
  
exchanged worried glances.  
  
"He's leaving?!" Ann exclaimed in a barely controlled yell.  
  
"Shh!" Karen cut her off. "I want to hear this."  
  
"My grandfather Tony in Sugar Village has christened me with a task, one that I believe would be almost impossible even for me : Save a town from being torn down. As you all know, Sugar Village is being torn down in a year when the deal of building a resort will be finalized. According to this letter, all the townspeople have all given up hope of seeing their town survive through winter. He wishes me to come to the farm, run it, and help the townspeople save their homeland." At this, Jack sighed. "I would like the Mayor to accept the keys to my home, and my livestock divided up amidst the people. The farmland will go to the Harvest Sprites," at this, the girls noticed the small little sprites sitting on a table, "and you may auction off all the things I have no room to bring to the new home. Thank you for your kindness, but it is with a heavy heart that I leave."  
  
The room burst into a clamor as people spoke at long and short lengths to Jack, wishing him a fond farewell, offering him a home and most of the time asking him to stay which Jack politely turned down the offer.  
  
======================  
  
Jack packed up his bags as he squished down one last pair of overalls into the suitcase. He sighed, locking the bag shut. "Well boy, its just you and me again," he said, scratching the small dog on the head. It waggled it's tail and panted, nuzzling his hand. "Just think. We'll be going to a new home."  
  
The dog whimpered and licked his hand. It's entreating big brown eyes looked at him, jowls dropping in a classic dog expression. Jack chuckled as he lifted him into his arms, carrying the dog into the living room, suitcase in one hand, rucksack on his back, full of tools, seeds and a few things to eat on the steamer trip there.  
  
Jack sighed as he looked around the house. The walls were a solid construction, the kitchen stocked with utensils and one of the best refrigerators you could get outside the city. On the walls hung pictures taken during the festivals and other assorted events. He smiled at one, a picture of Karen beating the stuffing out of him that had begun as a mock fight, the girls and guys cheering both on. Kai was the one who took the picture, having brought a camera from where ever he lived.  
  
A knock came from the door. Taking one last look around the house before he left for good, he opened the door...  
  
And fell on the ground, rubbing his bruised face as a glowing group of teenagers scowled down on him.  
  
"What was that for?" Jack demanded as Kai helped him up.  
  
"That, was for leaving without us," Karen said, rubbing her bruised knuckles gingerly, having struck quite a hard skull. "You have a hard head."  
  
"Leaving without you?" Jack asked, mystified, rubbing his stinging cheek. "Last I checked, I was leaving alone."  
  
"And that's the problem," Rick said as the Doctor, a man of few words and unknown name, tended to Jack's bruised face. "You need help, Jack. Serious help."  
  
"What he means is," Popuri said with a smile, "Is that this task is too big of a job for just you to handle. You need some help."  
  
"Friends don't abandon friends," Grey added with a wry grin. "Besides, we owe you for helping this town."  
  
"I... I don't know what to say," Jack said, surprised.  
  
"Thank you would be nice," Mary said softly with a gentle smile.  
  
"Thank you. Thank you all."  
  
"Well that settles it!" Ann exclaimed happily. "We'll all set off for Sugar Village first thing tomorrow!"  
  
"But... what will all you be doing?" Jack asked curiously. "You don't mean you're all coming along, are you?"  
  
"You betcha!" Cliff added, grinning widely. "Each of us are helping out in different ways."  
  
"I will be staying behind," the Doctor said, finishing with Jack's face. "But Elli will be taking my place. You need a doctor to take care of you. A town that small probably does not have a clinic and Elli is the best nurse you can find." At this, Elli blushed.  
  
"I'll be bringing you guys there, and transporting some things back and forth from Mineral Town to Sugar Village," Kai said, fishing around in Jack's fridge for something the whole group could drink in celebration.  
  
"I'll also be helping out around the farm and town as well when I'm in the area. Remember, I came early this year and Flowerbud Village isn't going to wait for me to return."  
  
"Ann and I will be helping around the farm, so that you can get to know the other people," Popuri added. "I can help take care of the chickens, once I learn how. Ann's dad is supplying a good month and a half of food stock while mom is sending along eggs."  
  
"I'll bring along a months worth of seeds, and make sure that Rick and I will get the best prices for local livestock," Karen added.  
  
"Grey and I will help out in the town, getting to know people, helping build new homes, repairing them and helping improve the overall mood of the farm and town," Cliff added. "We're good with our hands so we can build stuff needed. And Grey's grandfather gave him a set of forging tools. Between Jack's horde of ores, seeds and equipment, we can handle anything."  
  
"I can help around the farm as well, and help forage some things to keep the farm going," said Mary. "I've studied a lot of things and I'm sure we can find some things to help the villagers accept the fact that we are there to help."  
  
"Found it!" Kai pulled himself out of the back of the fridge, bearing two bottles each of Wine and Grape Juice. "For the drinkers and non-drinkers. Fresh from Aja's Winery!"  
  
"Rick, you okay with Kai hanging around us for a year?" Jack asked. It was well known around the village that Rick didn't enjoy being around Kai. He tolerated him but that was about it. The long haired blonde had a tendency to rant about the purple bandanna clad southerner.  
  
Rick nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine. Anyone who can drink me under the table has my respect." He said the last part with a chuckle. Kai punched him on the shoulder good naturedly as he handed Rick a cup of wine.  
  
"So that's why Kai dragged you to our farm two nights ago," Popuri mused in realization.  
  
"Drink up!" Kai had finished pouring glasses as he raised his. "To Saving the Homeland."  
  
"Save the Homeland!" They clinked and drank.  
  
=======================  
  
"We were too optimistic," Rick said, staring at the mess. "We've got our work cut out for us."  
  
"C'mon, it's not that bad," Jack said, pushing the door of the small one room house open. A large cloud of dust filled the air as the group coughed as they dumped their things in the corner. Then, the door fell off it's hinges. "Okay, I was mistaken."  
  
Kai was the last one in and he sweatdropped. "My god. This place could barely fit Jack than all of us. And I thought Jack's farm was bad in the beginning of his first year."  
  
"No running water, no kitchen, electricity at least...." Grey reported, checking the fixings. "Broken door," he added, kicking the door into the yard with a scowl.  
  
"We have a well. At least that's something," Popuri said, looking out the window.  
  
=======================  
  
It was then when I realized that everything I had built up to this point, didn't mean squat. Everyone was talking around me, like this was their problem as well. But they wanted to come here and help.  
  
Also, the place brought back so many memories. Memories of long summer days, the wind in my face, Grandma's cake that could bring a tear to even Karen's sweet hating eye. I briefly wondered if Grandma left a recipe for that cake as I ran my finger over the table, eyeing the layer of dust accumulated on my stained leather work gloves. I knew then, as I looked around the small ranshackled hut that we definitely had our work cut out for us.  
  
=======================  
  
"The problem is sleeping quarters," Karen said, folding her arms. "We should sort that out first."  
  
"I think the girls should get the house," Cliff said, drawing looks from the guys. "Us guys can use my tent."  
  
"I hope it's a big tent," Rick grumbled as the boys trundled out to set up Cliff's tent.  
  
Jack was the last to leave as he looked at the pile of stuff. "I think, if we move the table to the corner, we can give you girls enough room for your bedrolls."  
  
Elli shook her head. "First things first. We clean. It's too dusty in here. We could suffocate."  
  
Ann grasped the thick mattress off the bed and dragged it to the floor. "Someone grab the other end. We'll beat the dust out outside."  
  
"Hey, Jack! Little help here?" Rick called out as Jack quickly made his exit.  
  
=====================  
  
"At least it's a big tent," Grey remarked as the finished unrolling their bedrolls. "Sturdy stuff. What's it made out of?"  
  
"The top shelter is a canvas like material that is protected against rain staining and soakthrough, and the main tent itself is some sort of heavy material. My dad made it for us. I came from a big family so we used this tent during camping. When I left, I took it with me." The brown haired boy emerged from the tent and closed up the flap. "There."  
  
"Big family, sheah, okay," Kai remarked. "This thing looks like one of those Middle East tents that people spend their whole life in."  
  
"Well, that's where my dad said he got the inspiration to make it," Cliff replied lamely.  
  
"Need water, too exhausting," Rick droned as he stumbled over towards the well, dunking his head into the water.  
  
"Get him out of there. He'll poison the water," Kai joked as the guys laughed.  
  
"C'mon guys, it's our first day. Let's not get into ANOTHER fist fight like last Sunday." The others sighed as Jack knocked on the door.  
  
  
  
"Come in!" Opening the door, Jack whistled.  
  
"You girls did a great job! I can see my face in that TV screen now!" Jack exclaimed.  
  
Rick popped his soaking wet head inside. "Nice," he said, grabbing a towel, ignoring the squeak of protest from his sister. "Great job."  
  
"Rick! That's my towel!"  
  
"So it is," Rick said with a small infuriating grin. He ducked away as a shoe impacted on the side of the wall.  
  
"Us guys will grab our stuff now," Jack said hurriedly, grabbing two packs and his large rucksack full of tools. He then made his escape as Popuri calmed down.  
  
=====================  
  
"Wrench."  
  
"Wrench." Grey caught it out of the air as he went to work on the hinges.  
  
"Screwdriver."  
  
"Screwdriver." Grey made a final adjustment to the door.  
  
"Oil can."  
  
  
  
"Oil can."  
  
With a final click of the door, Grey stepped back, smiling to himself. "There we go. One door all set up and ready to go."  
  
"Great," Cliff said, standing up from where he was nailing a fresh set of boards into the fence. "It's almost lunchtime."  
  
"Ann's cooking so it should be good," Grey said, a low rumble from his stomach agreeing with his statement.  
  
Cliff laughed. "Yeah. She's the best cook, next to her dad."  
  
Gathering up his tools, Grey opened the door, squinting at the sunlight. "Hey!" he called out at Jack and Rick who were hacking away at the long grasses in the pasture with Jack's Mysterile Sickles. "Where's Kai?"  
  
"He went into town to find out whose selling what," Rick answered back. "Mary went with him."  
  
Grey nodded as Cliff inhaled. "Ah, the sweet scent of food."  
  
In the yard, Ann stirred a pot over a fire. "It'll be ready in about twenty minutes," she said, sipping at the stew. Nearby, Karen chopped up vegetables, handling the knife a little bit clumsily.  
  
"Where's Elli?" Cliff asked curiously.  
  
"She's changing into some work clothes," Karen answered. "We're all going to have to work on the farm, so we might as well dress in jeans and t-shirts."  
  
"Speaking of which, have you seen this dirt?" Jack leaned on his sickle. "It's so hard! Rick and I must have hacked at least for twenty minutes to make those soft patches over there."  
  
"Cliff and I will take over while you two can go into town and get some seeds. We only brought enough seeds for two weeks." Grey's stomach growled. "God I'm hungry."  
  
"In a minute," Ann answered. "Besides, we need to wait for Kai and Mary to return."  
  
"Gah. Well, if we're going to just stand around here for about twenty minutes, lets go explore. Cliff, you coming?"  
  
"Naw," Cliff answered. "I'm too hungry to move. I think I'll sit by the well and drink water to keep me from starving."  
  
Grey snorted but headed off into the village. "I'll tell Kai and Mary to head back when I see them," he called out as he clambered the small hill top and disappeared on the other side.  
  
====================  
  
"Everyone seems so..."  
  
"Depressed?" Kai offered helpfully.  
  
"Yes." Adjusting her glasses, Mary pulled at her long braid in more of a nervous habit than anything else. "The few people we see are just going about their daily routines without trying to change a thing."  
  
"I'm sure we can change that," Kai said reassuringly as they came to a fork in the road. "Lets see.... Carpenter and a Cafe heading left, and the Tool Shop and a Flower Shop?"  
  
"Lets see the Carpenter. I'm sure there are some people there who could help us. And maybe we can buy some wood so we do not have to spend our supply of wood we brought with us." Mary adjusted the heavy jeans she wore in place of her blouse, skirt and white shirt as the pair set off.  
  
"Hey Fruit!" was the first thing Kai said as they came down from the hilltop. Bounding over, Kai reached down to pick one up.  
  
"DON'T TOUCH THAT!" Kai jumped away as if scalded. A young girl, about their age, dressed in brown working clothes, heavy boots, fingerless gloves, a red tank top and blonde hair tied in a high ponytail stomped over, scowling at him. "Those are not ripe yet," she said, eyebrows knitted with annoyance. "Those Very Berries need another day to ripen and grow. Otherwise, you'll disturb their growth by picking them too early!"  
  
"Well geez, sorry," Kai shot back. "I didn't know, okay?"  
  
The girl made a "Hmph" sound as Mary walked over. "I'm sorry for my friends rashness," she said, bowing. "We didn't mean to pick them prematurely."  
  
"Well, it's okay if you pick some every so often, but not all the time. The forest is delicate even with all the tending we do to it. When I was younger, people picked fruits and stuff all the time and never gave them a chance to grow again." At this, the girl scowled.  
  
"I see now," Kai said, nodding. "Sorry about that. I'm Kai, and this is Mary."  
  
"Gwen," she said, tossing her ponytail behind her head. "We don't get many visitors around here. Where are you from?"  
  
"Mineral Town, just an hours boat ride away," Mary said.  
  
"We came here with a friend of ours named Jack. We're all staying at the farm just outside of town. His grandpa left him a will."  
  
"Oh, so he's the old man Tony's grandson." Gwen nodded. "Well, don't get too comfortable. This place is doomed in a year."  
  
"That's why we're here, to stop the developers and save this town," Mary said.  
  
Gwen barked in laughter. "You serious?" she exclaimed, laughing. "Well, be our guest! If we can keep the Homeland from getting all dug up, I'm all for it. Good luck." She left, laughing to herself.  
  
"I don't think she believes we can do it," Mary said softly.  
  
"No kidding," Kai said, scowling.  
  
"Let's take this," Mary said, pulling up a herb that grew on the side of the road. "Dad finds these all the time. They eliminate a small amount of fatigue when eaten straight. And when ground up and boiled in water, it makes for a good relaxation tea."  
  
Kai nodded absently. "You know, I think I'm going to look around some more herbs before we head back. Why don't you head back? I'll follow shortly."  
  
"All right." Mary hurried off as Kai grinned, adjusting his bandanna.  
  
"Gwen, eh?" he murmured to himself. "I like a challenge."  
  
=====================  
  
Ronald sighed to himself as he rang in the cash register, dumping the coins into the well. "Thanks Louis," he said to the dark haired man.  
  
Louis nodded. He was a tall man with messy black hair that went to his shoulders, wide glasses, green shirt, red tie and wearing a white lab coat. "Not a problem. I need to eat too."  
  
Ronald sighed, fingering the side of his mustache in thought. "We may be loosing this place you know, with the developing deal being finalized."  
  
"We have to stay a bit optimistic you know," Louis reminded the husky man. "I'm sure something will turn up."  
  
The door jangled as a young face poked his head in. "Hello? You open?"  
  
"Hi there kid," Ronald said, mustering up his usual joviousness. "I haven't seen you around here."  
  
"I'm Grey, from Mineral Town. Nice to meet you." Grey stepped into the supermarket, offering his hand.  
  
Ronald took it as he gestured towards Louis. "That's Louis," Louis waved. "And I'm Ronald. I own this supermarket. Louis here runs the tool store."  
  
"I see," Grey said. "Hey, do you buy stuff?"  
  
Ronald nodded. "Yeah. Eggs, Milk, Cheese, Yogurt... stuff like that."  
  
"Good. A bunch of us landed yesterday at the docks. We're currently staying over at the old farm just down the hill." Grey said, checking his bag of money.  
  
"Old Tony's farm?" Louis asked, surprised. "I thought no one was going to come to take up the farm, with the construction in the following year."  
  
"That's why were here," Grey said, putting down a half dozen coins for a Rice Ball. "We're going to bring the farm back up to running order and help save this town. Not sure how to do the second one but we're all farmers. I'm a Blacksmith in training."  
  
"You do realize you have a year to do this, and it is already Spring the first, right?" Ronald asked, skeptically. "Construction begins in the new year."  
  
"I'm sure of it." Grey felt confident as the locals exchanged glances. "If you want to come see how we're doing, just pop by sometime."  
  
"We'll do that," Louis said as Grey thanked both of them, leaving with Rice Ball in hand.  
  
After a moments silence, Ronald shook his head. "Poor kid, throwing away a year like that."  
  
"Give him a break," Louis reprimanded. "Sure they could all be kids like him, but we could always give them support. At least someone in this place hasn't given up yet."  
  
"We'll see," Ronald said, folding his arms.  
  
======================  
  
"There. All done." Elli stood up, brushing dust from her jeans as she put the bag of potato seeds back into the rugsack that Jack had purchased for everyone the day they left Mineral Town. Silently she wished that she could wear her normal dress but it was not practical for working in the dirt. Karen and Ann adjusted quite well, Karen having worn shorts and a white t-shirt most of her teenage years and Ann always in a pair of overalls. Her, Popuri and Mary were unaccustomed to jeans and shorts. Popuri had donned a pair of shorts and one of Karen's t-shirts while Mary wore jeans and a heavy denim work shirt. A red bandanna like Jack wore was tied around her neck. Elli herself wore blue and white; blue jeans and a white heavy shirt. Her  
  
short hair was tied up in a bandanna like Kai wore, it's color pink.  
  
The boys had quickly adjusted to the work load of the first day. As Rick and Jack, the two farming experts cut the very long grass in the pasture in preparation for cows and sheep, Grey went about working at fixing the doors. Ann had sent Karen and Cliff to go shopping for fruits and vegetables and meet some of the local businessmen of the town. Kai had yet to return, off presumably scouting the town to get the feel and layout down. Mary had returned with quite a collection of ripe fruits, herbs and flowers, claiming the fruits and herbs to be very edible and helpful for their stay in the town. She had then sat down to pound a few herbs into fine crumbs for tea. Popuri had left, looking for Kai since he had not returned for lunch.  
  
Elle and Ann planted seeds and watered them since the morning as both Jack and Rick had pounded out a place for crops with both hammer and hoe. Ann stood up, stretching out her back. "God, I've gotten soft," she complained, her back emitting a couple of sharp pops and cracks. "I guess I didn't really get that much exercise every day. Look at Jack go." Elli looked over to see Jack tirelessly hacking away at the grass as Rick took a breather.  
  
"My goodness, such stamina," Elli said, surprised at the ease Jack moved.  
  
"Stamina, heck," Rick snorted, walking over to where the girls worked at the fields. His face was already drenched with sweat. "Do you know how many Power Berries he's eaten?"  
  
"That would explain something," Ann remarked as Jack spun around in a three sixty arc for a good three seconds, grass around him in a twelve by twelve foot circle was shedded by the force of his cut. "We should make him share if he finds any more."  
  
"Hey!" Jack called out. "Rick! You coming?"  
  
"Keep your pants on, Mr. I-Eaten-Power-Berries!" Rick called out, leaping over the fence. "God, not everyone has eaten as much as you have." With that, he slashed at a random bunch of grass and out popped a huge red berry, it's healthy skin gleaming in the light. It was at least the size of Rick's head and probably full of juice and energy. Rick picked it up, grunting at the weight. "My god, look at this thing!" he exclaimed as the girls ran over to bring it to the folding table they had set up.  
  
With an audible thump, Rick set it on the table. "Bright red, green stem, smooth skin, and looks like a strawberry on steroids."  
  
"Well," Jack said with a grin. "You were griping about me sharing Power Berries, right? That's a Power Berry."  
  
"A really big one," Rick exclaimed, wide eyed. "Don't they grow to maybe fist sized?"  
  
"Not this one," Ann said, poking at it. "Looks like it's been growing for ages."  
  
"You know, I did find one Power Berry in the mine... since there doesn't seem to be a mine here, we could always dig in the fields..." Without another word, Ann had grabbed a hoe as with Rick as the pair started to hack away at the fields.  
  
Mary turned to Jack, perturbed at his grin. "You shouldn't lie like that," she admonished.  
  
"Who said anything about lying?" Jack replied innocently. "I DID find a berry in the mine behind the Goddess Fountain. I'm sure there could be more buried deep in the ground."  
  
"Weren't you given some of them?" Elli asked curiously.  
  
"Well, I bought one from the Shopping Channel, and then when I tried to cut down a tree on Mothers Hill, the Tree gave me one.... and then there was the Kappa who gave me that special berry that keeps me from getting sick during rainy days... and then there was Anna who gave me a Berry for plundering my Magic Red Flowers last Fall.... yeah, I was given a lot." Elli sighed as Mary giggled.  
  
Elli put her hands on her hips. "That's it. We're having Power Berry for dinner. And none for you." At this, Jack's face fell.  
  
"Elliiiiiiii! But I LIKE Power Berry!" Jack whined. "Do you know how hard to come by those things are?"  
  
"Tough," Rick said with a wide and slightly evil grin as he and Ann carried over to the table a huge Power Berry, one twice the height and width. "Look at this! It must have been growing in the dirt for AGES! Grab a bucket cause we're going to wash it off and eat it!"  
  
"You are so dead if you don't give me some of that," Jack mock threatened as Ann stuck her tongue out at him.  
  
"I guess we could give him a piece, but ONLY a piece." Ann washed her hands with a bucket of water drawn from the rather full well. "Everyone needs as much Power Berry as possible to increase our stamina."  
  
"Mind you they don't keep once the skin is broken," Mary interjected. "Once a Power Berry's skin is broken, it will decay in two days."  
  
"Then we eat it as soon as everyone gets back." Rick said, checking the size for proper divisions of the ripe fruit.  
  
"Hey, it's getting late," Jack pointed out. "Shouldn't we go looking for them?"  
  
"Too late. Here they come." The others looked over to where they carried Kai who sported a rather lovely shiner. Grey and Cliff supported him while the girls carried a few random things bought at the store. Karen was smirking while Popuri was giving the dark skinned boy a stern talking to. "What happened to Kai?" Ann asked.  
  
"He," Popuri smacked him on the head, "was chatting up a girl."  
  
"I knew it," Mary sighed as she shook her head. "There was this girl named Gwen that we met in the forest near a woodcutters house. I think Kai was trying to become friends with her."  
  
"She didn't like me, and said so with a punch," Kai said with a grin that made him wince as his eye began to swell.  
  
"Geez. Leave you alone for a day and look what happens," Popuri grumbled, wringing out a cold compress, slapping it onto Kai's eye a bit roughly, making him wince. "What were you thinking? This is NOT how we want to get along with our neighbors."  
  
"I couldn't help it," Kai said, earning a few rolled eyes. "But hey, I learned a few things about this place during my talk with Gwen."  
  
"Well, we'd better eat first," Ann said, gesturing towards the Power Berry. Mary had taken it already and begun to divide it up into equal shares. Jack noticed, a bit sourly, that his slice was a bit smaller. "Everyone's got to eat tonight."  
  
"What the heck is that?" Grey asked.  
  
"Looks like a strawberry on steroids," Cliff said, earning a snicker from Rick.  
  
"That's what I said," Rick put in. "It's a Power Berry. A big one no less. It should increase our physical strength and stamina so we can work longer."  
  
Karen made a face. "I don't like sweet things, you know that."  
  
"It's necessary if you want to work longer," Jack said. "When I first started on the farm, I could barely water a quarter of what I do in two hours. Trust me, Karen, you won't regret it."  
  
"A little natural sugar won't kill you," Ann put in.  
  
"And we've all seen what they did to Jack," Elli finished.  
  
Karen threw up her arms. "All right! I'll eat it! But just this once, okay?"  
  
"Actually, we have another Power Berry," Mary put in, but shrunk back from Karen's glare. "But it'll keep for a good long while as long as someone doesn't break the skin."  
  
"Ugh.... I'll need a good long drink after this." Karen took a bite of the sweet fruit and admitted silently to herself that it was incredibly good, and a surge of strength coursed through her tired body. Devouring it quickly, she helped herself to one of the bottles of Wine Mana and Duke had given the small party.  
  
"Hey, go easy," Rick said as Karen poured herself a drink, downed it and poured another. "We only have enough for two weeks."  
  
Karen glared balefully at him as she corked the bottle. "Fine. Have it your way."  
  
"Eat up," Elli said cheerfully as she handed Karen another piece. "We have to finish the fruit or it will go bad in a couple of days."  
  
"Joy." Biting into the fruit, Karen chewed silently, admitting to herself that she could get used to the taste and freshness of Power Berries. It wasn't that she despised sweet things like cookies, cakes and stuff like that, she just didn't like to indulge in them. But given any time of day, she would gladly drink than eat sweets like her parents enjoyed.  
  
"Well, it's the first day here," Jack said, "And we've gotten a lot of things done. Kai, when do you think you can bring over Bill?"  
  
Kai paused in thought. "My ship should be large enough to bring over Bill. It's not far, only an hour. At the most, I'll have to have him sent professionally instead of bringing him over on a small boat."  
  
"You named your pony, Bill?" Popuri asked, enchanted. "That is so cute!"  
  
Jack blushed. "Well, it was named after Bill the Pony from Lord of the Rings. Anyway, we should get some more work done tonight before we head to bed. Tomorrow, we see about getting some livestock and more chicken feed."  
  
Rick nodded. "I'll work on that in the morning. Popuri, you coming?"  
  
Popuri nodded. "Yeah, I'll come."  
  
"The rest of us will either scout around the village looking for work and stuff, meeting the people and such." Kai put in. "And whoever is left will help with the farm work."  
  
"I vote we leave Jack on the farm," Cliff said with a grin.  
  
"Oh sure, leave me alone while the rest of you decide to go gallivanting around the town," Jack grumbled, reaching for another slice of Power Berry.  
  
"I can help him," Elli said, wiping her fingers on a paper towel. "I'm sure between Jack and myself, we can finish up the daily chores."  
  
"I'll stay too," Ann put in. "Someone has to cook and help out on the farm."  
  
"Well that settles it," Karen said, finishing off her Power Berry and starting in on the stew that had been growing cold with every passing moment. "We've got a busy day ahead of us tomorrow."  
  
As the small group of Mineral Town Villagers ate and drank, three little figures peered out from behind the henhouse. They were tiny, with colorful clothing of red, blue and yellow. "What do you think about these people, Nic?" the yellow one said.  
  
"They look all right, Flak," Nic said. "You think you'll be okay with them, Nak?"  
  
Nak, the littlest one with blue sleeves that went over his hands nodded. "If they're going to save the homeland, we should bring them to the Harvest Goddess tomorrow morning."  
  
"Exactly," Nic said, rubbing his hairless chin. "All right, that's settled. We'll bring them there first thing tomorrow morning."  
  
The three left, as Jack's dog looked at them curiously before wagging it's tail and scampering over to it's food dish.  
  
=================  
  
Laying there that night, made me reflect on a few things. About grandpa Tony, my friends who had laid down their old lives to come and help me here, and the people who were counting on us to save this town. I can't let them down, as much as I want to. Everyone's helping in their own way, and I'm glad they're here. I'm certain that I couldn't have done it without them, and for once, I was right.  
  
Laying there, just made me realize how important things were to them, our friendships that helped. We just never knew how much we would go through for the entire year. I distinctly remember my last thought, an old piece of advice Grandpa Tony used to say.  
  
"It's a dangerous world, Jack, stepping out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your wits about, there's no telling where you might end up. So buck up, keep your chin high, and lean on your friends when times seem desperate. And that, my boy, is how you'll get through each day."  
  
And you know what? He was right.  
  
=================  
  
End Chapter 1 


	2. Chapter 2 : First Steps

On Our Own  
  
written by Shaun Garin  
  
Harvest Moon Back to Nature and Save the Homeland is owned by Natsume Entertainment. This is my take on Save the Homeland and Back to Nature, which, in my opinion is a very good game, but could have slowed down the passing of time and extended the length of time you need to conceivably save the whole freaking town. Rated E for Everyone, Use of Alcohol.  
  
I hold characterization nothing but sacred. I try to portray the personalities true to both games as best as possible.  
  
===============  
  
Chapter 2 : First Steps  
  
===============  
  
Morning came bright and early. Funny how one sees a sunrise from a different place. I couldn't call it home, not just yet. It wasn't home at the moment.  
  
When I woke up and stretched out the kinks in my shoulder that morning, I looked over to where my friends slept. They had given up a lot, leaving Mineral Town and coming here to Sugar Village. Why? I asked myself the same question over and over again. But when I thought about it, the more I got to thinking. I couldn't have done it without them.  
  
That morning began, and I was prepared to work and bring the Farm to fruition. Little did I know though, that Divine and Sprite interferance would pace our little group on a quest that would help this tiny town recover.  
  
============  
  
Dawn broke early in Sugar Village. The farm became bathed in golden rays as Jack walked out of the huge tent, yawning widely. There was still a fine layer of morning dew on the ground as he made tracks to the well. Splashing his face, he shivered at the shocking cold water. Shaking his hair and face free of water, he slicked back his hair and tossed on his blue hat with the orange brim. He took a moment to yawn, stretch and crack his back to rid it of tense muscles. Jack's dog walked out of his dog house, yawned and whimpered for food.  
  
Jack removed some dog food from his rucksack, opened the can with a deft pull and scooped it into the dish. The dog yipped its thanks and began to eat. Hushing up the puppy, Jack stretched and yawned.  
  
Shielding his eyes from the glare of the morning light, he dug again into the rucksack that lay at the side of the house and pulled out his watering can. Created by Saibara, the Watering Can was able to hold more water than possible with the least leakage. How it worked, Jack figured it was the way the old blacksmith fused his old watering can with the metal from the mines. Dipping it into the water, he walked over to the seeds and began to water them diligantly and expertly, taking four at a time. While he worked, Jack whistled merrily.  
  
Casting a glance over at the tent and the house, there was no sign of life in the windows of either domicile. Clearly, unlike Jack who had to tend to a whole farm filled with cattle, chickens, sheep and water a huge area of the land, the others did not rise with the sun.  
  
As he poured water over the last of the small batch of crops with an almost negligant toss, a little squeaky voice called up to him. "Hi!"  
  
Jack looked around, wondering where the voice came from. The tone of the voice was friendly, and somewhat familiar.  
  
"Down here." said the voice.  
  
Jack then looked down at his feet and blinked. "Harvest Sprites?"  
  
There were three of them standing at the base of Jack's feet, heads inclined upwards to look at the much larger teenager. Somewhat a bit smaller than the local ones, these ones barely came to his knee while the other ones were stronger and came a little over his knee that lived in Mineral Town. Of course, these ones looked like they haven't worked for anyone recently. "Hello!" chorused the trio of Harvest Sprites.  
  
The first one was a medium sized Sprite wearing red with a pointed cap that had an orange bobble on the top with blue pants, and a brown belt and shoes. He had a tuff of green hair that poked out of the bottom of his cap.  
  
The second one was a much smaller Harvest Sprite. This one wore a light blue color and had a similar hat. His sleeves were cut badly or intentionally as they hung over his hands, hiding them from view. He had rosy cheeks and a brilliant smile on his face.  
  
The last was a roly poly one dressed in yellow. He wore a cap as well with a bobble on the top in an indigo color. He had a rim of hair that went around his head like a green fringe. His eyes were hidden from view as a large nose poked out from the bottom of his fringe of hair.  
  
The red colored one looked up at Jack, seemingly sizing him up. "You look like a nice guy. What's your name bub?"  
  
"It's Jack," Jack replied, crouching to talk to them easier than hunching over. "So this town has Harvest Sprites too, eh? What's your names?"  
  
"I'm Nic, that's Nak in blue, and Flak in yellow." The red one now identified as Nic, replied. "We wanna ask a favor from you."  
  
Jack smirked. "Lemme guess, save the town from being rebuilt into a resort?"  
  
The Harvest Sprites blinked and shared a collective glance. "You know already?" Nak asked curiously, his voice very high pitched from a Sprite so tiny.  
  
Jack nodded as he jerked a thumb back towards the house and the tent. The door had already swung open and Ann had stumbled out of the house, looking bleary for the early morning rise. Rick had comandeered the well and was vigorously dunking his head in and out of the well, despite kicks to the shin from Karen, muttering that he would pollute the well water. They were all still dressed for sleep, mostly in t-shirts and shorts. "We're all here to help the town."  
  
"That's great!" Nak exclaimed, waving his short arms, the sleeves of his coat waggling about. "We'll be able to save the town in no time with everyone helping out!"  
  
Jack shrugged. "We'll do our best. Is there anything we really need to know about before we do anything?"  
  
"Many of the villagers have lost hope," Flak said, shaking his head. "But if you ask the Harvest Goddess up at Goddess Pond, I'm sure you can get some advice on how to proceed."  
  
Jack rolled his eyes. "Don't you guys have any ideas on where we can begin?"  
  
The three Harvest Sprites looked at each other, shrugged and giggled. "Nope," said Nak.  
  
"Hey, Jack." Jack turned to greet Kai who was walking up to him, already dressed in his usual violet shirt and bandanna. He still sported a shiner from where Gwen had slugged him. "I'm headed out to bring Bill and a few things over. I'll be back in a couple of hours, provided your horse doesn't get seasickness."  
  
Jack sniggered at the thought. "All right, Kai. There might not be anyone here when we get back, so can you let Bill into the pasture? We'll be fixing that gate today."  
  
Kai nodded. "No problem," he drawled. "Later."  
  
"Later." Jack then turned down to the Harvest Sprites and blinked. They had vanished when Kai had called over to him. Turning around in a full three sixty rotation, he noticed three blurs of blue, red and yellow vanishing into a cave just near the treeline. He shook his head. "Harvest Sprites. Go figure."  
  
===============  
  
I had asked myself, why Kai had come early that year. He usually didn't return until the summer. Then I had remembered. Kai, had come to propose to Popuri. But Kai, he lost his nerve. When I asked him why he had chickened out, he said he wasn't ready. Give him more time. I laughed and said it would be two more years before he was ready. He punched me in the shoulder, but was still smiling.  
  
I had known the tanned teenager since the first year he appeared. We became fast friends, though most of the men in town didn't like our friendship. Though, due to a drinking contest and a final showdown between Rick and Kai, things pretty much went back to status quo. Now, Kai came often, not just in the summer time from Flowerbud Village, the place where he lived for most of the year.  
  
He also told us that Flowerbud was so similar to Mineral Town. I had never been to Flowerbud, but I knew my family had a farm there. Last I heard, Cousin Jake had taken over the farm and was doing fine with a lovely girl who looked similar to Karen, but was so much different than the daughter of Sasha and Jeff. Jake had offered to visit, but we never got around to arranging a visit.  
  
Kai had told me that he was working at the Vineyard in the Village throughout most of the spring and fall. He would spend his time here, visiting Popuri and making a general nusance of himself. At least, that's how the men viewed him. The womenfolk loved him and thought he was rough and exotic.  
  
Aw well, I'm getting off track. That morning was an eye opener however, when we found out exactly what we were getting into.  
  
============  
  
Ann sipped at her morning coffee, looking rather rumpled from just getting up. Karen gave her friend a look. "So that's how you stay upbeat in the morning."  
  
Ann shrugged as she sipped, paused and added some sugar to the brown mix. "I've stopped growing since I was fifteen and that was before I started drinking coffee."  
  
Rick sniggered under his toast. "You sure that's the only thing that's stopped growing?" he added with a smirk. Cliff went beet red, as with Ann who swatted the chicken farmer on the head with her large stir spoon for the morning miso. Rick ducked the stir spoon attack, only to get smacked by his sister upside the back of his head.  
  
"It's too early in the morning for this," Grey grumbled, grabbing a slice of Power Berry. "Eat up. The Power Berry is becoming overripe."  
  
Elli finished her own portion of berry and stood up, wiping her fingers of juice with a napkin. "Lets get started. What's on the agenda today?"  
  
"First, we finish the repairs," Cliff said, munching on his toast. "That includes fixing up that Henhouse, and the pasture fence. Then, we need to cut some more grass for fodder and then go out and meet some of the people around town to get an idea of what to do."  
  
Mary sipped at her tea and looked out where Jack was busy, tilling the soil with his special hoe. A solid strike would send a miniture shockwave, ripping up dirt into long roads of soft dirt. Jack raised his hoe once again, and struck, and more dirt went flying, along with a few solid G coins and pieces of roots and crystals. "Isn't anyone going to help Jack?"  
  
The boys looked sheepish as they mumbled something about just waking up. The dog yipped and continued eating.  
  
Popuri glared at her brother and got up, smoothing her denim shirt and shorts. She then picked up a hoe and marched out. She sent a look at the boys who withered under her glare. Rick, long immune to his sisters glare, smirked and waved her on.  
  
Jack looked at her as she walked up, hoe slung over her shoulder. "I'm here to help since the BOYS," and with this, she smirked at the boys who watched her while picking at their food, "are claiming that they just got up."  
  
Jack chuckled and shook his head. "It happens. Lets see what you can do."  
  
Popuri grabbed the very tip of the hoe and raised it over her head. She brought it down and it struck the hard ground. People who saw this could have sworn that she shuddered like a Loony Toon for a moment as the hoe handle vibrated out of her hands. "Ouch," she yelped, rubbing her hands.  
  
"Go sis!" Rick shouted, and Karen bonked him on the head.  
  
Jack chuckled as he picked up the hoe and gave it back to Popuri. "It's a strange hoe that Saibara made. You have to focus energy into it. Charge the weapon."  
  
"What do you mean by that?" Popuri asked.  
  
Jack smiled and demonstrated his grip. "Hold it like this, and then bring it over your head. Swing it backwards and imagine it carving a trench forwards. And then...."  
  
The hoe seemed to glint with some transparent energy for half a second. He brought it down and struck the earth. The ground below it burst upwards like something had detonated beneath it and carved a trench of soft plantable earth. "Now you try."  
  
Popuri bit her lip, brought the hoe over her head, braced herself for the solid impact, imagined the trench forming, and struck.  
  
There was a minor detonation accompanying a thunderous crack of energy, concealing the pair. Rick was howling with laughter, as with Cliff and Grey. Elli was stiffling giggles, Mary looked red in embarrasment that she was shaking with silent laughter. Ann and Karen were on Popuri's side, glaring at the men who were still howling.  
  
The dust settled down and Popuri shook dirt out of her hair. "Yuck, I need a bath."  
  
Jack had to agree at the fact. But as he looked over, he whistled. "That is some trench. Nice going Popuri. A bit more control next time on the strike."  
  
The trench stretched across the planting field, all the way towards the end of the cliff where the staircase lead downwards to the harbor. The harbor was merely a dock with a few assorted fishing boats, and the sight of Kai's boat was way in the distance, puttering along. Sugar Village was on a small area of the cluster of islands, and Mineral Town was on another island that was still part of the chain.  
  
"You seem distracted," remarked Popuri as Jack stared out into the Island Chains. "Anything on your mind?"  
  
"Aw, just thinking. I have family on the other islands and in the City." Jack sighed. "I wonder how the farm is doing?"  
  
"I'm sure the Sprites are taking good care of the farmland," reassured the pink haired girl. "And I heard Mayor Thomas talking to his son, Harris. Harris is going to move into your house and help the Sprites out."  
  
"Really? That's good to hear. Their house isn't so big, not with Thomas, Harris and Kano in there. Speaking of which, what DOES Kano do anyways beyond photographing things?"  
  
Popuri giggled. "He's more or less just staying there. We barely see him outside of the Mayor's house. I heard he's the Mayor's brother or something like that but no one has really asked him what he does. I heard though that he once came from Flowerbud Village."  
  
"They don't look alike," said Jack, folding his arms. "Aw well. Lets go and check out this town." His stomach rumbled. "After breakfast."  
  
When Jack sat down to eat, Grey looked at him and said, "So who's doing what today?"  
  
"Well, for one, we need to fix that fence," said Jack. "Then we need to get accustomed to the town, find out stuff to forage and make friends. At least then, we can find out what to do if someone has an idea for saving this place."  
  
"Easier said than done," put in Cliff. "Everyone here seems resigned to their fate."  
  
"But there's got to be some ideas," added Karen ."There's a possibility that there's someone who will come up with something. We can't bring over ideas from Mineral Town. They'll just be credited to our own town as ideas."  
  
Jack rubbed his chin in thought as he dipped his spoon into the miso. "I think the best idea is to make friends with as many people as possible, see what they enjoy. With some luck, we can learn something that might help out later on."  
  
"The day is breaking," said Rick. "Lets get a move on."  
  
"Before everyone leaves," said Elli, "We should really split up and look around at the services. Chickens and Cows are our first priority. We should also make sure that there's enough fodder in the silo and stored food. Mary and I can go and forage in the forests and look for some local fruits to store in the cooler."  
  
"Grey and I can work at getting this farm up to speed," said Cliff. "There's enough lumber around here to fix the fence and restore those shingles on the roof. Then we'll go to the Woodcutter and see if we can order a house extention for the rest of us. We can't live in a tent forever come winter."  
  
"I'll go with Popuri and get a chicken and cow," said Rick, reaching into the stash of G's that they brought. He withdrew three rolls of 10 incriment coins and nodded to himself. "That should be enough."  
  
Jack grinned. "Well, since I finished watering the plants, we should plant some more crops. It's still early enough in the Spring to get Cabbage planted and selling them will jumpstart the economy."  
  
"Let me and Ann handle that," said Karen. "someone has to wait for Kai to return with Bill and that'll free up your chance to look around, Jack."  
  
"Right. The seeds and tools are in the spare rucksack." Jack downed the rest of his soup and sighed. "All right. Lets get to work."  
  
"Yes Sahib," drawled Rick and everyone pelted him with rice crumbs.  
  
===============  
  
The Road goes ever on and on, Down from the door where it began....  
  
Jack sung to himself quietly as he trekked around the town. It was on an uphil slant mostly, unlike the flat terrain of Mineral Town. He had already stopped in at the Grocery Store and met Ronald.  
  
Swinging towards Walnut Forest, Jack whistled to himself the little ditty he had heard in the movie version of Lord of the Rings when he still lived back in the City.  
  
The forest was full of life with birds singing and the sound of sawing and chopping heard from the Woodcutter's shop. A gruff old man who reminded Jack a bit of Saibara seemed to patrol the area, watching his apprentices work at the wood set before them. Mary and Elli had already swept through the area and were working on picking some of the herbs on the hill and around the area.  
  
"Good morning," Jack greeted the elderly man.  
  
The man looked up through thick bushy eyebrows and his lips twitched into a smile. "Hello young man," the man said, nodding to Jack. "You're one of the kids who took over Tony's farm, eh?"  
  
"Yeah," replied Jack. "I'm Jack."  
  
"Woody," replied the man. "These are my two apprentices, Kurt," the red haired man nodded but didn't reply, "and Joe." Joe grinned and waved. "They'll be working for me until we move out come the winter time."  
  
"That's what we're hoping to stop," Jack said, earning a raised eyebrow from the man. "My Grandpa Tony sent a letter that just reached my place in Mineral Town. He wanted me to come and try and prevent the town from being torn down."  
  
"I see," said Woody. There was a pause as the man looked up, a genuine smile on his face. "Son, it might be a lost cause, but I've seen a lot of wierd stuff in my life. And if you kids can pull this off, then I'll throw my cause behind you."  
  
"Thank you sir!" Jack was astonished. He hadn't earned someone's trust like that in such a short time.  
  
"All right kid, don't get carried away. If you're going into the forest, head towards the lake. There's a nice place to fish. As it stands, Joe loves fish. Every day when he gets off work, he's fishing. Kurt is the exact opposite. He likes Gardening and Tomatoes." Woody shrugged. "I dunno why I told you that, but it might come in handy some day. People around here don't get many gifts except on their birthdays."  
  
"Loves fish, loves tomatoes. Got it," Jack said, memorizing the facts. "Thanks Woody."  
  
"Say," said Woody as Jack was about to move off. "My granddaughter Gwen was complaining about one of your companions. A tall guy, dark skinned and wearing a purple bandanna. Is he still around?"  
  
"That would be Kai," said Jack. "He's one of our group, but he's off in Mineral Town getting my horse. Then, after that, he might go to Flowerbud Village for the rest of the season until Summer."  
  
Woody grunted. "I know Flowerbud. Nice village. Nice people." Woody shrugged. "There's not much excitement in a small town like this, but you're welcome to stir up something."  
  
Jack grinned foolishly. Then, he snapped his fingers. "Oh, one sec." Digging into his rucksack, he pulled out one of the bottles of Wine that he carried around in case he ran into someone who needed a drink, or Karen needed cheering up. "Do you like Wine?"  
  
Woody looked at the bottle and smiled. "Well I'll be. Aja Winery. Good year too. I haven't seen one of those in a long time. Not since they stopped shipping to Sugar Village."  
  
"Take it," Jack insisted, pushing it into Woody's hands. "I have lots at the farm."  
  
Woody laughed. "You're a generous young man, Jack. Thank you." Woody then raised a bushy eyebrow and said, "You'd better get a move on Jack. The day is wasting."  
  
"Ah. Well, enjoy the wine. Nice meeting you Woody." with that, Jack trotted off towards the lake.  
  
Woody shook his head, smiled and put the wine into his tool belt for later drinking. It had been a very long time since they had any Wine in the area. Not since Aja had stopped delivering shipments to the town.  
  
================  
  
"You need a Cow and Chicken, huh?" said Bob as he looked at Rick. Rick looked up at Bob a bit nervously. The Rancher was a tremendous man, bigger than Zack and twice as intimidating. Popuri however, just smiled sweetly at him.  
  
"Yes, it would be really great if you could get one for us," she said, half flirting.  
  
Bob cleared his throat, a bit flustered. "Well, it's not that simple. We only have so many cows and chickens here at the farm. Haven't really been doing some breeding lately. Tell you guys what. If you can help out here at the farm today, I'll see about getting you animals."  
  
"What do we need to do?" asked Rick, feeling a bit more in balance with the prospect of farmwork.  
  
"You just need to put feed into their troughs and then brush and milk the cow and brush the horses. It's easy work, but I need to see how you guys handle your animals. Who knows? You might be able to earn a horse sometime."  
  
"That'd be great, thanks!" Rick said. "I accept."  
  
"So do I," said Popuri.  
  
Bob grunted and reached behind the counter and pulled out two sets of brushes, one milker and an empty milk bottle. "These are the stuff you need. You can keep the milk when you're done as well. Well, go to it!"  
  
Once the pair were out of the Ranch, Rick rubbed his forehead and sighed. "It's going to be an uphill battle from here."  
  
"Jack had to face it," remarked Popuri as she rounded the corner and took in the enclosure around a carpet of uneven grass.  
  
"Yeah, but Jack had three years to get the farm up and running," said Rick as he walked up to the nearest horse, pulled out the brush and began to brush it down methodically. The horse whinneyed and neighed but calmed down after Rick untangled its glossy coat. "We have a year and it's the beginning of Spring. We have until next Spring to rebuild the town into something prosperous."  
  
"We could always start some kind of popular buisness here," said Poprui as she milked the cow who mooed loudly at her clumsy treatment of its udder. "Maybe send mail to Manna and Duke and have them send some seeds or something for a Vineyard."  
  
Rick shook his head. "I don't think so," he said as he untangled the horses tail and moved onto the mane. "A Vineyard will take a long time to grow to fruition. I'm thinking though that these horses could help though."  
  
"You two like horses?" Rick and Popuri whirled to look at the tough looking blonde girl that had slugged Kai the day before. She was dressed in strong looking pants and a vest with a red top. Popuri slightly envied her lean muscleculture as she barely did any work on the farm beyond feeding the Chickens. The girl also held a brush in her hands as she walked up to a grey horse and patted it before setting the brush to it. "It's not often someone helps out here at the Brownie Ranch. Names Gwen."  
  
"I'm Rick," said Rick as he untangled the mane with a few strokes of the brush. "And that's my sister Popuri."  
  
"You two are from Mineral Town, huh?" said Gwen as she took care of the grey horse with expert care. "It's a small town. People get around to talking."  
  
"Sounds about right for Mineral Town," remarked Popuri as she finished pouring the milk into the small container.  
  
"The people are also saying that you're here to save this town," said Gwen as she moved onto the next horse. "It sounds impossible, now that the trucks are scheduled to start work on Summer the first."  
  
"There has to be a way," reasoned Rick. "Otherwise, we wouldn't have come. Our friend Jack had to save his Grandfathers farm in three years. Sure it's a long time, but he worked for it with our help. You can't give up so easily without trying. Right?"  
  
Gwen chuckled. "I guess you're right. So, what do you guys need to know?"  
  
Popuri shrugged as she put the milk away into her rucksack and moved onto a horse close by. "Well, for one we need to know if there was some things that made this place famous before it was scheduled for demolition."  
  
"Oh that's easy," said Gwen as she finished with the coat of the horse she was working on. "We used to provide the fastest and best race horses in the whole Island Chain. We were also famous for our throughbreeds going to the races in the City. Maybe if I can convince Bob to give you guys a horse, you could probably raise it to be a champion racer."  
  
"That's no easy task, considering that the champion horse is Cliffguard from Flowerbud Village," said Rick as he moved to another horse. "But with some work and daily races against Bill..."  
  
"Bill?" inquired Gwen.  
  
"Bill is Jack's horse," said Popuri as she finished with her horse. "He's fast since Jack trained him well but we haven't had a chance to race it against anyone since the Horse Races are a couple of weeks away. And with Cliffguard in the running for the local island races, it's going to be murder trying to win against him."  
  
"Cliffguard...." Gwen tapped her lip in thought. "I once visited Flowerbud Village as a kid. I remember this guy named Grey. He was really good at what he did. That was Racing. I remember him, and his sister Ann. Then Grey got into an accident and went all surly."  
  
Rick and Popuri cast glances at each other. "Coincidence?" they chorused.  
  
"Excuse me?" asked Gwen. "Coincidence of what?"  
  
"It's just... never mind. It's just a wonky thought," said Rick, using one of Jack's expressions.  
  
"Wonky. All right. You two going to stand there or finish before three?" Gwen asked, returning to her work.  
  
Rick and Popuri smirked in unison before turning back to their work.  
  
=================  
  
"It's so beautiful up here," exclaimed Elli as she wandered around the Goddess Pond Summit.  
  
Mary carried a basket that was filled with Veryberries, Blueberries and various herbs. She inhaled and said, "The air is so clear here. It's like people aren't even around."  
  
"Well, except for maybe him," said Elli, pointing to a man who picked up a Veryberry on the other side of the stream and popped it into his mouth. "Hello!"  
  
The man looked up and said, "Oh hello!" The man was dressed similar to Mary's dad, Basil in similar clothing. Elli briefly wondered if people who worked with plants had the same fashion sense.  
  
"I haven't seen you two before," said Parsley. "I'm Parsley. What are you two girls doing in this village?"  
  
"Trying to save it sir," said Mary as she brushed a lock of hair back behind her ear.  
  
"That's an admirable task," said Parsley as he shifted his boots in the dirt. "Is there any reason why you kids came all the way here?"  
  
"It's a long story," said Elli as she picked up some herbs and popped it into the basket she held. "Jack, one of the newcomers to the town took over his Grandfathers farm when he died. We spent a couple of years getting to know him. When his Grandfather Tony died, he sent the deed and comissioned Jack to help save this place. We wanted to help."  
  
"That's very kind of you," said Parsley. "Although, I'm not sure what could save this place, except.... a place called the Sacred Land."  
  
"The Sacred Land?" Mary inquired.  
  
"It's a special place in this town that is so far hidden. I haven't found it yet myself but I just know that there's a clue to unlocking the secret of the town. Woody told me that when he was a younger man, he had to make the remedy to save his family and the town. There's no doctor in this town so good luck for anyone but Woody, Wallace and Martha to know about the remedy."  
  
"Wouldn't a normal sweet potato be usable? If it's just a sweet potato, it should be growable anywhere," said Elli.  
  
Parsley shook his head. "No. It's not that simple. The nutrients in the soil of the Sacred Land gives the Sweet Potato seeds unheard of healing powers. Normal Sweet Potatoes won't do anything but be good for lunch. I've tried growing bags of Sweet Potato seeds everywhere but it doesn't do any good. It may be just a myth, but you kids should check it out with the elders of the town."  
  
"I see." Elli and Mary exchanged glances and Mary said, "Thank you for your time. Please, drop by the farm any time."  
  
"I'll do that." Parsley stood up and stretched. "Oh, here's a little secret that I found out a while ago. See the pond over there?"  
  
Pointing towards the pond, the girls nodded. "Well that pond is the home of the local Harvest Goddess. If you talk to her, she'll tell you some of the things you may need to know. Well, see you later kids."  
  
As Parsley headed down the mountian slope, Jack brushed by him, earning a curious expression from Parsley. Running up to the girls, Jack coughed for a moment and said, "Who was that?"  
  
"That was Parsley," said Mary. "He's a herbologist that's studying the local flora and fauna."  
  
Jack blinked curiously before looking around and saying, "Hey a Goddess Pond!"  
  
Running up to the pond with the girls following behind, he picked up a flower and prepared to toss it into the water. Elli giggled as she said, "You're always doing that from what Karen and Ann say. Even back home. Do you honestly believe..." Jack tossed the flower in and a woman rose from the pond. ".... she will come? Oh my."  
  
The Goddess put her hands on her hips and said crossly, "I'm not a thing of fiction." Then her annoyed expression turned soft as she looked at Jack. "Hello Jack. Thank you for making an offering at my pond."  
  
"Oh my," Mary echoed.  
  
The Goddess giggled as she said, "Not all things shouldn't be taken for granted girls," she admonished like a mother scolding her children. "So. You're some of the kids who are going to help the Homeland. Well, I have some things for you. First of all, I will give you a calendar filled with birthdates. Next, I will give you some advice. Making friends with people will help you on your quest to help this place from becoming a resort because they have the ideas. And thirdly, get Parsley to visit his family once in a while. He goes on enough guilt trips for being gone for so long."  
  
"Boy, it sure feels like talking to my mom," remarked Jack dryly. Elli and Mary punched in him both arms as the Goddess giggled helplessly.  
  
The Goddess reached behind herself and pulled a calendar out of thin air. Handing it to Mary, Mary flipped through it and nodded to herself. "All of the birthdates are here and even markings for normal, dry and rainy seasons. Thank you."  
  
"It's not a big deal. Just what I do." the Goddess smiled and said, "Now, just come and visit me. Oh, and presents every day during the week help as well. Most people don't get any presents a day, so giving things to people every day helps."  
  
"Gee, sounds like Jack's first year here," said Elli as she gave Jack a sideways look. Jack blushed and fidgeted, being dressed down by two girls and the local Divine Personage.  
  
Mary giggled. "I remember when I told him I liked Blue Grass and Poison Mushrooms. He practically showered me with them for my birthday."  
  
"Hey, no one else would take them except your dad," Jack retorted but the girls only laughed harder. "Sheesh, I'm outnumbered."  
  
==================  
  
"That's the last of em," said Grey as he placed the final box of things from Jack's old house inside the small cabin.  
  
Kai wiped his forehead. "What sucks is that we have to walk up and down that staircase multiple times. I'm surprised I even got Bill up those stairs."  
  
Bill snorted at the remark, giving an intelligant sideways look that plainly read "Of course, was there any doubt?"  
  
Cliff looked over the farm and the girls who were finishing up planting several rows of Corn, Cabbage, Cucumber, Potatoes and Turnips. Ann was bent over, working on sowing the seeds while Karen finished sweeping the rows with the Mysterile Watering Can. Straightening up, Ann stretched her back and there was a loud popping sound. "Ouch," she said, rubbing her back. "Next time you plant," she said to Karen.  
  
Karen stuck her tongue out at Ann who rolled her eyes. "So Kai," said Karen. "Are you headed back to Flowerbud Village?"  
  
"I gotta," said Kai. "I was at Doug's place for lunch and I got a call from Jake. Seems like the Vineyard is kinda short on hands since I took off so early in the year. They had to call in Stu. He's a good kid, but he's still a kid."  
  
"It's remarkable that Mineral Town and Flowerbud Village are so similar, villager wise. It's like someone stole us in our sleep and cloned us." remarked Cliff, earning a look from them. "What? I went to Flowerbud once two years ago while Kai was still there. He was nice enough to show me around, but I keep getting mistaken for another guy named Cliff. He's the cousin of Karen and is married to Ann."  
  
"How'd you survive, being called Cliff2?" Ann teased.  
  
"About the exact amount of time I kept calling you Ann2," Cliff returned deftly. Ann went red and Grey laughed.  
  
"Seriously though, you look similar to Flowerbud Village people but they're so different from us." said Kai as he sat down on the fence. "Miss Karen, well Mrs. Karen is the daughter of Gotz. Those two fought like cats and dogs before Jake was able to help them rebuild the Vineyard. She's a real fireball. Works at the bar with Duke. The first time she met Jake, she blew him off so badly because they were both on short fuses that day."  
  
"Great, she's sounding just like me," Karen said with a smirk.  
  
Kai laughed. "I suppose so. Some things never change, does it?"  
  
"Say, you think we could go visit in the summer? You know, just for a quick one." Everyone looked at Cliff who grinned. "I have an itching to make fun of Cliff if he returned already like you said."  
  
"The inherant insanity," deadpanned Kai. "I shudder in fear." Then, looking at his watch, he said, "I'd best be going. I'll be back on Summer the first if not earlier depending on how much help they need at the Vineyard. With any luck, I'll be toting someone along to meet the crew of the HMSS Insanity."  
  
Ducking a dirt clod that sailed from Karen's location, Kai laughed and ran down the stairs. Soon, the engine started up and his boat roared to life. "Well, there he goes," said Ann as Kai sailed off in a northwestern direction towards Flowerbud Village.  
  
Karen nodded. Then putting down the watering can, she said, "All right people. Lets get moving. This place won't clean itself."  
  
"Yes mother," the three chorused, getting dirt clods flung in their directions.  
  
================  
  
Chapter 2 End  
  
Authors notes : To all people who have returned to read this chapter and found it changed all of the time, I appologize. My pre-readers are unfamiliar with Harvest Moon BTN and STH and I only have myself to check things over. Otherwise, they work on the grammar and spelling.  
  
After playing Harvest Moon : Friends of Mineral Town, I was able to discern the name of Lillia's husband. Rod. As of this, I quickly abandoned the whole Parsley idea and put it aside for now for later charecter development.  
  
To the people who have been waiting over a year or so for this chapter, I appologize. I had massive writers block and that also contributed to the many rewrites and postings of this chapter.  
  
The world of Harvest Moon is using the setting of having Flowerbud Village, Mineral Town and Sugar Village on the same group of islands out in the middle of the Pacific. If anyone would care to leave a review with the name of the A Wonderful Life village, it would be much obliged as I can't seem to find it. For future reference, Sugar Village is situated on a small mountainous island while Mineral Town and the AWL village is on a much larger village. Flowerbud is to the northwest of both and Jack's family seems to have a history of running farms in the area as the towns where the GBA games are on the same islands as Sugar Village, Flowerbud Village and Mineral Town.  
  
If anyone asks how there can be two of the same charecter due to Flowerbud and Mineral Town using the same charecters, my answer is this : They are similar, sometimes identical but otherwise their own person. No crazy clone abductions, no twins seperated from birth, it was just a coincidence. Some exceptions are such as Kai who came from Flowerbud each Summer, Kano who after two years in Flowerbud moved to his brothers house in Mineral Town, and Cliff who during his wandering days visited Flowerbud and was mistaken constantly for the local Cliff.  
  
For those fans of the Harvest Moon for Girls for the PlayStation, I would LIKE to use her as a charecter, but it defies the logic of the senario. So unfortunately, barring a cameo, the lead female charecter from For Girls will most often be ignored and otherwise not placed in the story.  
  
Multiple revisions and corrections have been made to this chapter. I hope you like the finished product now that I'm satisfied with it. 


	3. Chapter 3 : In the Swing of Things

On Our Own  
  
written by Shaun Garin  
  
Harvest Moon Back to Nature and Save the Homeland is owned by Natsume Entertainment. This is my take on Save the Homeland and Back to Nature, which, in my opinion is a very good game, but could have slowed down the passing of time and extended the length of time you need to conceivably save the whole freaking town. Rated E for Everyone, Use of Alcohol.  
  
I hold characterization nothing but sacred. I try to portray the personalities true to both games as best as possible.  
  
===============  
  
Chapter 3 : In the Swing of Things  
  
===============  
  
"Good morning Mineral Islands! And todays forcast, a warm fifteen degress celcius and climbing. Temperatures expected to rise in midday to twenty degress celcius and there is a zero percent chance of rain for tommorow with temperatures to the seventeen degree mark. Flowerbud Village should expect a ten percent chance of rain, Forget-me-not Village should expect thirty percent, and finally Mineral Town and Sugar Village should expect zero percent chances of rain."  
  
Ann groaned as she turned over in her sleeping bag. "Gah, that's loud. Isn't there a volume button for that?" she muttered.  
  
"I'm afraid not," said Elli as she struggled out of the tangle her sleeping bag had become in her sleep. "It seems to be broken."  
  
"Oh huzzah," said Karen, sitting up in the bed. It was her night for the bed as the girls had decided to rotate until they could make a large extention for all of them to sleep in. "So, who's turn is it to set up the water for the baths today?"  
  
"It's the boys turn," said Mary as she switched off the television. "Well, technically it's Grey's turn."  
  
"How did you get him to do your work?" Popuri asked, struggling out of the tangle of sheets she had draped herself in the night before.  
  
Mary giggled. "I played Janken with him. He lost horribly. So we traded duties today."  
  
Ann raised an eyebrow. "You do realize that you get to work with Cliff on chopping grass for fodder today and fixing the broken parts of the fence AND taking care of the new Cow while he gets to go up the mountain and announce our presence to those people living up there."  
  
Mary blinked and cursed quietly and rather creatively. Elli, who was close enough to hear her blushed and uttered, "Oh my. Where did you learn that kind of language?"  
  
Mary blushed hard. "I read a lot," she replied lamely.  
  
"Riiiiiiight," the other girls chorused.  
  
Just then, a banging at the door startled the five out of a potential Mary teasing. "Hey girls!" Rick called out from behind the door. "It's already a quarter past six! Get a move on!"  
  
"Rick, hold your chickens!" Popuri shot back.  
  
"Don't make me come in there and douse the lot of you with water!" Rick called out before his steps could be heard walking away. The goosh of a watering can being filled in the well caused the girls to scramble into their clothes.  
  
Swinging the door open and neatly catching Cliff on the nose, Ann stomped out and grabbed the watering can from Rick before he could douse anyone. "Gimme that before you hurt yourself," she demanded.  
  
"Yes ma'am," replied Rick cheekily as Popuri threw up her hands.  
  
"Ugh! Men! Where do they get these attitudes?" Popuri demanded.  
  
"I think Jack's been a bad influence on them," remarked Karen dryly, earing a glare from Jack who had one shoulder strap of his overalls hanging off his shoulder. He looked wide awake for someone who just clambered out of bed.  
  
"Him and Kai," put in Ann teasingly as she went over to the Turnips and started to pour water all over them.  
  
"I resemble that remark," Jack said, making a silly face. "Okay people, breakfast is on the table, the shower is hooked up thanks to Grey and men, get in line for the free peep show." He was immediately showered with dirt clods from the girls and the boys laughed at him.  
  
================  
  
"Walnut Forest, population, four," quipped Karen as she headed into the forest, Rick beside her. "You sure that Popuri can handle the chickens?"  
  
"She's seen me doing it enough, right?" replied Rick. "She's a big girl."  
  
Karen smirked at that. "Big enough so that Kai wanted to propose to her this spring?"  
  
Rick sputtered. "What?! Kai wants to do WHAT?!"  
  
Karen arched an eyebrow. "No one told you that? Where have YOU been for the last two years?"  
  
Rick went a deep shade of red and Karen could have sworn she saw steam hissing from his ears. Trying to diffuse the potential nuclear weapon at her side, Karen rested a hand on his shoulder. "Look Rick. You have to admit that Popuri is a young lady, almost ninteen now. Kai can take care of her and besides, Kai wants to settle down in Mineral Town instead of taking her back to Flowerbud Village. Jack has known that Kai wanted to propose last year, and he chickened out."  
  
Before Rick could reply with something snarky, Karen pressed on. "You two have settled your differences last year, but you still can't accept that Kai is head over heels in love with Popuri, can you?"  
  
Rick sighed, deflating like a popped balloon. "I guess you're right. But still, I should have been told this ages ago!"  
  
"Kai came last year, tried to propose. He wussed out. Then he came on Spring the first. He then chickened out again. Jack, Grey, Cliff and even the DOCTOR had to push him to even walk up to Popuri. And then he was reduced to a babbling wreck and the boys had to drag him away."  
  
Rick laughed, startling a chipmunk and the three Harvest Sprites who were playing near the Woodcutters house. "Oh man, I wish I had that on videotape."  
  
"But the point is that you need to relax. Popuri's a big girl now and she won't get involved with someone who's going to mistreat her. Kai may act all smooth with Popuri but when he's gone, he's always turning into a babbling wreck. It took the combined efforts of everyone but Popuri and you to get him to try and propose last Summer the Thirtieth. And that ended up in having to drag him away on account that he was making a total ass of himself."  
  
"That would explain why you and all of the others walked into the Ranch and dragged him out. I thought he was having a seizure or something like that," said Rick thoughtfully.  
  
Karen giggled as they rounded the corner. "Hey Rick, go ahead and talk to Parsley. I'm sure he's got some insights and you've yet to talk to him for a while. I'm going to the resturant over there. Katie asked me to come by when I met her yesterday."  
  
"Right. Hey Parsley!" Rick called out as Parsley looked up. Karen nodded to herself and headed over to the Resturant.  
  
Checking the door and rattling it a couple of times, she rang the bell that hung at the side. Soon, the door opened and a teenaged girl with brown hair in multiple curled locks stood behind it. "Oh Karen!" exclaimed Katie. "Thanks for coming."  
  
"Not a problem," said Karen as she was let into the Resturant. Wallace was busying himself behind the counter, working on polishing the glasses for their opening at noon for the people who wanted to eat there. "So, what's up?"  
  
"Well, I was just wondering, well, it's kinda a silly thing." Katie fidgeted and Karen raised an eyebrow.  
  
"Go on," said Karen.  
  
"Well, Jack's Grandma used to make this really great cake back when she was still alive. I wanted to make it when grandpa told me about it. I didn't feel comfortable asking Jack about it, so I wanted to ask you."  
  
"A cake recipe.... it might still be at the house. Tell you what. I'll check out the house and see if there's anything there. If not, I'm sure the combined efforts of everyone here can help you make a really great cake." Karen leaned on the nearby table as she studied Katie's hopeful expression. "So... why do you want to make the cake?"  
  
"Um, well... there's this contest way over in the City. Grandpa told me that Jack's grandma's cake was a prize winning cake in five counties. I'm sure if I win, then the town could gather some fame and popularity. With that in mind, I'm sure the place won't be knocked down." Katie fidgeted and Karen nodded.  
  
"I see. Well, I'll see what I can do. You sit tight. I'll be back in a few minutes." Karen got up and headed out of the resturant, only to bump into Gwen who was standing behind the door. "Oh, sorry."  
  
"That's okay," Gwen said. "Can I talk to you?"  
  
'Why does everyone wanna talk to me today?' wondered Karen as she followed Gwen to the grove of trees. She noticed Rick and Parsley debating on something. By the expressions on Rick's face, he was loosing the battle. "What's up?"  
  
Gwen folded her arms and looked back at the resturant. "Katie isn't being completely truthful. The prize for the cake contest winner is a trip to the City as well and 20,000 Gold. The Gold I'm sure she'll drop into the Town if she wins, but she's always wanted to go to the City."  
  
Karen nodded as she put a hand on her hip in thought. "Well, if she wants to go to the City, that's fine with me. Any fame or fortune this town can gather is good. Even if it means that Katie can go to the City because of the prize. Did she say what she's going to do there?"  
  
"She wants to go to college," replied Gwen. "Wants to become a high class resturant owner or something like that. There hasn't been someone who left this place since Dia's parents left her here with Martha and Gina."  
  
"What does Dia's parents do to leave their kid here?" inquired Karen.  
  
"Dia's mom is a fashion designer and her father is a big corperate bigwig. They thought that Dia would grow up spoiled or something like that so they hired Martha and Gina to take care of her. She's still a bit of a snob though," said Gwen.  
  
"Well, every road has a bump in it, right?" said Karen. "No pain, no gain. Wanna come with me to the farm? I could use another pair of hands looking for the Cake Recipe."  
  
Gwen shrugged. "Eh, I'm not busy. All right, lets get moving."  
  
==============  
  
Cresting the rise of the small mountian, Grey inhaled sharply as he looked around the small villa atop the hill. Surrounded by a stone wall and decorated in a slightly old fashioned Victorian style, it was a picturesque scene right out of a storybook. Shifting the basket of what Ann had termed "Hello food", three large plump Strawberries, two Verryberries and one large Blueberry, he sighed and walked up to the door.  
  
Rapping it sharply, Grey tapped his foot while waiting for the door to open. After a minute or so, the door opened, revealing a girl with blue hair, dressed in an old fashioned dress.  
  
Grey's first thought was that he had somehow stumbled onto Mary's twin, despite the blue hair. Her whole body language, expression and such screamed Shyness as she said in a soft voice, "Hello Sir. What brings you to Clove Villa?"  
  
Grey found his voice as the initial knee jerk surly response was violently shoved aside. Unlike Mineral Town where he could afford to be something of a jerk at times, especially concerning Saibara, he had to be assertive.  
  
It still didn't help the fact that his love for Mary was nearly instantiously overridden by the girl in front of him. 'Damn my hormones,' Grey thought viciously.  
  
"Uh, hi. I'm Grey from Tony's old Farm. Um," Grey wished he was more of a conversationalist as he held out the basket. "These are for you and the residents of the house. Sort of a "Hello Food" type deal. Thing. Um..."  
  
Gina took the basket and nodded. "Thank you sir. Would you like to come in? Tea is being served right now."  
  
"Um..." Grey rubbed the back of his head, wishing he had a response. What would Jack do in a situation like this? Ah yes, like he always did. Folded like a wussy. Wait, no, that was Kai. Aw damnit, where was Kai when one needed him to make a stupid ice breaker joke? "Sure, tea would be fine. Thanks."  
  
"This way please." The girl opened the door wide and Grey stepped in, pausing to wipe the dust off of his shoes. Following her into the living room, a girl sat at the table. Her expression was distant as she looked at Grey.  
  
"Are you the person who came to pick up Tony's things at his farm?" she asked, her voice level. It felt more like a demand than a question.  
  
Grey interally thanked the Harvest Goddess for a more level playing field emotionally. "More like one of the people who have come to help the town. I'm Grey, from Mineral Town. Your maid has invited me for Tea."  
  
"Sir has brought gifts as well," the girl said, placing the basket in the middle of the table and picking up the tea kettle. "One lump or two?"  
  
Grey felt a ridiculous urge to mimic the old Bugs Bunny joke that Jack had pulled on him last Pumpkin Festival but squashed it down violently. No sense clonking someone on the head for the expensive of a joke. "One, will be fine," he said.  
  
The girl poured two cups of tea, and added sugar to his and added cream and sugar to the girls. After she was finished, the girl she was serving said, "That will be all Gina."  
  
"Yes Miss," she replied, walking out of the room. The door to the kitchen could be heard closing faintly in the background. Apparently, servants WERE quiet.  
  
Grey sipped at his tea as he tried to iniciate conversation. "This is a very nice place you have here."  
  
"It is my family's Villa," the girl said without preamble. She sipped her own tea and looked at Grey critically. "Are there more of you at the old Farm or are you trying to work here all by yourself?"  
  
Grey shook his head. "No, there's nine of us at the Farm. I suppose Jack, the guy who was asked to help this place is getting an extention built on the farmhouse."  
  
"It is a meaningless task at best," remarked the girl. She sipped her cup as Grey wondered why she was so distant. "There's a fine line between what people can do and what people cannot do. You should know what can and cannot be."  
  
"I'll remember that," Grey said. He quickly downed his tea as fast as he could without appearing rude. Then, reaching into the basket, he removed the fruits from the basket and said, "Thank you for your time, miss....?"  
  
There was an awkward pause as the girl continued to stare out the window. Then, she replied, absently reaching for the Blueberry. "Dia. That is all you need to know."  
  
"Dia then. Good day." Grey picked up the basket, turned and nearly leapt out of his skin as Gina stood behind him. Heart thudding in his chest, he was led to the door.  
  
Gina looked at Grey and said, "Thank you for your visit, Sir."  
  
"It's my pleasure. Oh, um, I have something to ask." Gina blinked as Grey pitched his voice a bit softer. "Please, if you know anything that could help this town, don't hesitate to visit us at the farm. We'd rather not see our efforts go to waste without the villagers helping."  
  
"I will try sir," said Gina, her voice even softer. Grey briefly wondered if she was considering something, but she then opened the door. Taking that as a cue to leave, Grey tipped his hat and headed out the door.  
  
Once outside and the door had shut, he thudded his hand against his chest. "Holy. If the guys find out about this, they'll NEVER let me hear the end of it." He then blanched. "Mary'll be pissed."  
  
=================  
  
Cliff wiped his forehead as he looked up at the sun. "About midday," he remarked as Mary puffed beside him. "Are you holding up there all right?"  
  
"Yes, I'm fine," she replied. "I'm just not used to this kind of work."  
  
Cliff chuckled. "After a while, you'll get used to it. Popuri is adjusting..."  
  
Just then, he and Mary were treated to Popuri chasing a widly clucking chicken across the farm. She was covered in feathers and the chicken was doing it's best to lead her on a wild goose chase. "Or maybe not," finished Cliff.  
  
Mary giggled for a moment as she sliced the last of the tall grass away with a slash of the sickle. "She's having fun, you can tell."  
  
"Come back here you..." Cliff blanched at the row of explitives that escaped Popuri as she chased the chicken around in circles.  
  
"Yeah right, like heck she's enjoying it," Cliff said, shaking his head.  
  
Popuri skidded around a corner and nearly ran into Joe who nearly clunked Kurt neatly on the head with the boards he was carrying. Kurt ducked it and Woody leaned backwards to avoid the swing. "Danger zone in here," Joe joked as Popuri chased the rampaging chicken all over the farm.  
  
"What the heck is going on here?" inquired Jack as he came over the hill and found Popuri swearing like a sailor and trying to grab the chicken. Looking over at Cliff who had run over to relieve the others of some of their load. Behind them came Elli who carried the tool boxes, one in each hand and Ann who carried a good amount of plumbing.  
  
"I think Popuri has gone crazy," Cliff said with a smirk. "She's trying to murder the chicken."  
  
"Um, okay, that's crazy." Jack gave his load to Cliff as he reached down and plucked the chicken into his arms. Popuri skidded to a halt in front of him as she coughed violently for a moment while regaining her stamina. "Looking for this?"  
  
Popuri nodded as she took the chicken from Jack. She could have sworn that the chicken made a face at her as she held it in her arms. "It got out when I went in to feed it," said Popuri, making a pouty face. "I don't know why they keep running out of the Coop all the time."  
  
"Well it is a nice day," said Cliff who handed Jack's stuff back to him and took the heavy toolboxes from Elli. "Maybe it wants to be outside."  
  
"Could be," said Popuri with a sigh. "I'll keep an eye on it. Your dog can help out, can't it?"  
  
"Pretty much," said Jack as he hefted the load of wood. He looked over the yard and found the Dog running around like a madman, chasing butterflies and... was that a Harvest Sprite? Heading over to the small one room shack, he put the load down on the ground. Ann dropped the plumbing equiptment and groaned.  
  
"I think I'm gonna need a massage after this," Ann complained as Woody and the boys went to work on the house.  
  
"How much did this cost?" asked Cliff as he looked over the amount of material they brought to the house.  
  
"Well, we had to make an extention for two communal bedrooms, two bathrooms and a kitchen, so it came to about 20,000 Gold." said Jack, feeling the lightness of his wallet. "Suffice to say it, in exchange for hygiene and a warm place during rainy days, I'm almost broke. We're going to have to live off what we sell later on."  
  
"So in other words, we're back to Jack's first season," Ann said with a grin. Jack nodded miserably as he shook his wallet. There was a very faint clinking sound in the bag and he grumbled darkly.  
  
"I feel poor. Like 100 G poor. I haven't been that poor since..."  
  
"You got that Vacation House built?" Elli teased and Jack went red.  
  
The Vacation house in the village was something of a peculiarity among the people. Built in a open lot that had been empty for the last few years, Jack had a house built there as sort of a getaway when he needed some time off the farm. Gotz had made it for him and often asked why Jack wanted a townhouse for himself. When Jack said that he felt like having a place in town, it raised questions because his farm was not exactly out of the way. It currently served as a sort of clubhouse for people to come in and relax at times.  
  
There was talk that Jack built it for Grey because he was on the verge of asking Mary to marry him, but Grey and Jack shot down the rumor rapidly, out of embarrasment. Grey had privately spoke to Jack about it later and Jack merely grinned and encouraged him to get his courage to talk to Mary.  
  
Due to the massive amounts of produce Jack shipped every day, he was arguably the richest one in the town but he never displayed his wealth. Getting Gotz to build him new extentions to the farm was about the most he did at times. The Vacation house was something new and caused much talk in the town because Jack NEVER flaunted his wealth around like that. Well, except for the time he was short one log and used his Golden Wood piece to build his fence. Boy did the adults let him have it that day.  
  
"Hey, the Vacation home is just... there, right?" said Jack as he scratched his head. "But seriously, there is a real good reason why I got it built."  
  
Ann smirked and leaned on Jack, resting her head against his shoulder. "And what reason would that be, hmmm?"  
  
Cliff snickered at Jack's obvious discomfort at Ann pressing into his back. Elli blushed and Mary giggled. "That is... er...."  
  
"Mmmm?" Ann tickled Jack's ear and he supressed a groan. Ann had found Jack's sensitive spot the first summer when she came over. The girls all used that spot to get anything out of Jack, much to the amusement of the guys. She ticked again and Jack whimpered.  
  
Suddenly wrenching himself free of Ann, he scampered away from the girl who yelled, "You're not going to get away that easy!" and ran after him. Popuri giggled, set down the chicken and took chase as well, laughing in that maniacal evil villian cackle she did so well.  
  
Mary shook her head and sighed. "Those two."  
  
Cliff hid a knowing smirk. He and Grey had been friends since he had arrived in the town and between him, Grey and Jack, Grey had a distinct lack of courage when it came to Mary. Specifically, asking her to marry him.  
  
Grey came to the town about a month before Cliff did. Apparently, he worked for a construction company that went belly up. Without a place to go and no companies hiring at the point in time, Grey went back to the town where his father grew up and asked Saibara for a job.  
  
It was no secret in Mineral Town that Grey hated the fact that Saibara didn't praise Grey often, if ever. The demanding old man was a bane on Grey's existance until he stepped into the library.  
  
When he met Mary, a unique relationship began. Mary began to help Grey open up as he began to talk about his feelings on being in the small, somewhat boring town. It was a relationship built on books and trust, something that Cliff found fun to meddle in.  
  
After two years and two birthdays, Jack and Cliff decided to build the Vacation House for Grey with some help from Gotz and Zack. It wasn't much, but it was a place where Grey could call home. The problem was trying to get Grey to move in.  
  
Unlike Kai who would love to find any excuse to move to Mineral Town perminantly after finishing his contract with Gotz over in Flowerbud Village, Grey was one of those people who stood on their own two feet. Just getting Grey to LIVE in the house as a present to him was nearly a difficult task in itself. Gotz worked on the building itself while Jack, Cliff and Zack checked and purchased everything they would need for a small family to live in there.  
  
On Grey's birthday, they had presented him with the keys to the house. Grey tried to refuse but it took the combined efforts of the four men to literally shove him into the house and tell him to have a good time in his new place. Then, they locked the door.  
  
Like it or not, Grey wasn't going anywhere until he got his nerve to propose to Mary. It was almost cute, the way he became awkward around her. Kai had teased Grey mercilessly the summer before before going awkward around Popuri.  
  
Elli looked over at Cliff who was grinning and said, "You know something, don't you?"  
  
Cliff blanched. "Um... gotta go!" The drifter was off like a shot as Elli and Mary ran after him, determined to get the secret of the Vacation house out of the pair of boys who were laughing as they were being chased around the farm.  
  
===============  
  
"Hey Karen, is this it?"  
  
Karen looked up through dusty bangs as Gwen held up a large piece of paper that seemed a bit wrinkled with age. Looking over the recipie ingredients, she nodded. "Yep, that's it. Let's get this to Katie."  
  
Gwen pocketed the paper and pushed the door open. Sidestepping the others who were charging around like crazed Harvest Sprites with Jack's Dog on their tail, Gwen shook her head and said, "You guys from Mineral Town sure know how to slack off."  
  
Karen rolled her eyes as Ann tackled Jack to the ground and Popuri helped her toss the helpless farmer into the pasture. She winced as Cliff came down on a flying elbow, getting a yelp of pain from Jack. "They're a bunch to be reckoned with," she said as she brushed past Joe and Kurt who were setting up the framing of the house.  
  
Quickly heading into Walnut Forest, Gwen read off the ingredient list. "Flour, salt, sugar..." she paused while the pair rounded into the road the headed towards the lake. "Golden Eggs, Golden Milk and Moon Drop Dew? What the hell?"  
  
"Golden Eggs and Milk are pretty accessible," said Karen, tapping a lip in thought. "Though we may need to call Mineral Town and see if Jack's old Chickens and Cows are still producing it. Moon Drop Dew, I haven't heard of yet though."  
  
"Well, lets give this to Katie," said Gwen, ringing the doorbell of the Resturant. "She'll know what to do with it."  
  
"Is she a good cook?" asked Karen, thinking of her own cooking disasters.  
  
Gwen scrunched up her expression as she shook her head. Before she could add anything, the door opened. "Hey, you're back!" exclaimed Katie. "Did you find it?"  
  
"Yep," said Karen as Gwen handed Katie the recipe. "It's got some things I think we can get from Mineral Town shipped here. Other than that, we'll have to find some referance on Moon Drop Dew. You know what it is?"  
  
Katie made a face. "Moon Drop Dew? I have no idea what that is."  
  
Gwen sighed and placed her hands on her hips. "Well, lets go and check things out. I'm sure someone knows what to do with it."  
  
Karen nodded. "Well, good luck. I'm sure we can get some Golden Milk and Golden Eggs shipped here from Mineral Town. I'll stop by regularly and when the shipment comes in I'll drop off the Eggs and Milk."  
  
"Right. I'm counting on you. Thanks Gwen, Karen."  
  
==============  
  
Grey whistled to himself as he trudged down the mountianside towards the Farm. The sun was dipping in the sky and was casting a warm orange glow across the land. As he turned the corner to head into Brownie Ranch, a voice called out to him. "Sir?"  
  
Grey paused and turned to see the maid named Gina walking up to him. "Sir, I need to speak with you."  
  
"Sure. What do you need?"  
  
Gina looked flustered for a moment before asking, "Sir, do you know Flowerbed City?"  
  
Grey nodded. "Yeah, I was a construction worker there before I lost my job."  
  
"Oh. Well.... um..." Gina looked even more flustered as she said, "Forgive me. I will ask you later. Thank you sir." She ran off, leaving a puzzled Grey scratching his head curiously.  
  
"What was that all about?" he wondered to himself. Then, shrugging, he stuffed his hands in his pockets and headed down the mountianside.  
  
===============  
  
Chapter 3 End 


	4. Chapter 4 : Space Change

On Our Own  
  
written by Shaun Garin  
  
Harvest Moon Back to Nature and Save the Homeland is owned by Natsume Entertainment. This is my take on Save the Homeland and Back to Nature, which, in my opinion is a very good game, but could have slowed down the passing of time and extended the length of time you need to conceivably save the whole freaking town. Rated E for Everyone, Use of Alcohol and mild language.  
  
I hold characterization nothing but sacred. I try to portray the personalities true to both games as best as possible.  
  
===============  
  
Chapter 4 : Space Change  
  
===============  
  
A week and half passed by, and I was getting anxious. I suppose it was just nerves now that I think about it. Or maybe just the fact that the others had discovered things that could help the Homeland while I toiled at the farm most of the time.  
  
Four days ago, Karen came back with the idea of the Cake Contest. She and Katie had been tirelessly working for three days straight, trying to make a passable cake, AND to get the chickens and cows happy enough to produce Golden Milk. I admit, doing it the old fashioned way without getting a special feed for the cows and chickens after winning a Festival was much harder. It was also hard on everyone's stomach as Karen and Katie aren't exactly the world's best cooks. Katie is passable. With Karen in the kitchen, it was a near disaster zone. We try to minimize the tasters to me and Rick. Rick's used to it and myself? I have an iron stomach.  
  
We had called Harris at my old home, and found out that the cow and chicken that produced the Golden produce had died several days after I had left. They were old, as attributing to buying them the first day I was there. I suppose, it was about that time. But damn, did it make it hard to get things done around here.  
  
I had a cellular phone for just such an occasion, brought from my home in Flowerbed City and it was our major link to Mineral Town. We had gotten a call a day ago from Mayor Thomas who had told us that a girl named Nami had moved into Mineral Town on a journey towards Forget-Me-Not Valley. She was currently staying at Doug's Inn and was something of a worldly traveller, much like Cliff was. I briefly wondered how a girl her age would get along with the older folks of Mineral Town. All of the young people were here in Sugar Village trying to keep it from becoming a resort.  
  
Some others left the town as well. Louis, Gotz's cousin had went over to Flowerbud Village to examine the local butterflies in the area but would be back in the summer. Greg finally pulled up and left and Won was now living with Zack at his place. Won had opened his store there, although Harris and him still are not on very good terms still since their initial meeting. Greg had went out to sea and hadn't returned. He left a message he was going to a few other towns to catch more fish. The last surprise, Kano had finally left. He said his nature photo documentary was finished and left for Flowerbed City to submit his work.  
  
I suppose it was really a time of upheaval as the young folk of the town followed me here, intent on keeping another town from being torn down.  
  
Grey and Mary had gone to visit Clove Villa the following day, bearing gifts. Dia was still rather prissy but Gina had opened up thanks to Mary befriending her. The daily gifts of Veryberries didn't hurt either. Gina had come up with the idea of the Goddess Dress for the Flower Festival in Flowerbed City. They had even managed to recruit Elli and Katie on the side when Katie was not baking samples for our stomachs to moan over. Elli knew the Goddess from Mineral Town and daily went up to talk to the Goddess here in Sugar Village along with me when I was not working at shipping most of the stuff out to the mainland and jumpstarting the economy of the town.  
  
Rick and Popuri showed themselves adept enough to take care of animals, especially Rick. The jury was still out on Popuri at that time, but we soon were able to get regular service at Bob's Ranch. He gave us a cow, a couple of Miracle Potions, one Chicken and Rick was still trying to get a Horse. Rick muttered something about beating Cliffguard next county race and left it at that as he worked daily at the Ranch. Our cow had immediately been fed Miracle Potion and was expecting within two more days.  
  
As I dug out my old and rather battered iPod, jammed the headset over my cap and fired up Tasogare no Umi from .hackLimintality, I had this gut feeling that today would change things.  
  
Either that, or it's Karen and Katie's recent cake killing my insides.  
  
===============  
  
"Yo Jack!"  
  
Jack looked over his shoulder, freezing in mid-stride as Kurt waved at him from the middle of the road. Waving back, he went over and handed Kurt a tomato. "Thanks," said Kurt as he munched on it. "Hey, have you seen a certian butterfly anywhere? It's called the Azure Swallowtail."  
  
Jack frowned and tapped his lip in thought. "Azure Swallowtail. Can't say I have."  
  
Kurt grumbled in annoyance. "No one has seen it! I've asked everyone, but Woody said that they're attracted to the Blue Mist Flower. But that Flower hasn't grown anywhere in recent years."  
  
"What's so special about this butterfly?" asked Jack, taking out a small jar of milk and sipping at it.  
  
"Woody said, oh thanks," Jack handed him another Tomato and Kurt munched on it. "Woody said that the Azure Swallowtail is a rare and endangered species. If I'm able to find it, we can generate a lot of publicity and probably keep the development halted if not stopped all together."  
  
"Well, I'm not doing anything right now," said Jack as he finished his milk. "Tell ya what. I'll go and find someone who may know more about the Swallowtail and the Blue Mist Flower. I heard that people have seen the Blue Mist growing over in Flowerbud Village. Maybe I can find some seeds from there."  
  
"Right. I'm going to Wallace's place for lunch. Stop by if you want." said Kurt as he finished his tomato.  
  
Jack grimaced. "I don't think so. I've been forcefed Karen and Katie's cooking too much. I've had enough food for one day anyhow."  
  
Kurt laughed, despite himself. "Katie's not such a bad cook, but it's your friend Karen who's turning their cooking sessions into disaster zones."  
  
Jack snorted. "You're telling me. I once had to bail Sasha and Jeff out of a meal Karen once cooked. It was definately horrible. Landed me in the clinic."  
  
Kurt winced. "My sympathies. Well, I'll go looking around somewhere else. Later."  
  
Jack grinned and ran off towards the Goddess Pond.  
  
===============  
  
"Thanks for the purchase," chirped Lyla. "How's the farm coming?"  
  
"As best as it can do at the moment," said Ann as she put the seeds into a paper bag. "There's a few hiccups with some of the ideas people have for helping this town recover."  
  
"Oh? Like what?" inquired Lyla.  
  
"Well, Karen and Katie are trying to find something to make a decent cake but without Golden Eggs and Golden Milk, it's coming along a bit more slowly." Ann shrugged as she added, "And between you and me, it's hard enough keeping damage control down. Karen's a terrible cook and I'm afraid that she's improving, but rather slowly."  
  
Lyla giggled as she rang up the total and coins changed hands. "Well, perhaps we may be able to get something done sooner or later. Have you talked to Louis? He may have an idea."  
  
"I haven't recently," said Ann, "But I'll drop by his Tool Shop today." Ann stuffed the seeds into her rucksack and grinned. "Not to worry. The Mineral Town Crew is on the case!" She struck a silly pose as she and Lyla giggled helplessly.  
  
Thump.  
  
Lyla blinked as she turned to see a clod of dirt hit her window and the sound of soil being dug up. "Oh dear," she said, heading out of the door quickly.  
  
"What's going on?" Ann asked, following her. Beside the house was a little boy, wearing an explorers outfit similar to what Basil usually wore but with more emphasis on digging than studying plants. He was intently digging at the foundation at the base of Lyla's shop and grinning.  
  
Lyla put her hands on her hips and exclaimed, "Tim! What are you doing?"  
  
"Hi Lyla!" Tim exclaimed, taking another shovelful of dirt and digging some more. "I'm looking for treasure of course."  
  
Lyla shook her head as she palmed her face. "Tim, you do realize that there isn't any treasure around here, right?"  
  
"Of course there is!" Tim exclaimed hotly as he pulled out a rolled up piece of parchment. It was rather old and wrinkled. Ann half expected it to dissolve in the stiff breeze of the day. "This map said so! I just need to get under your house to dig it up, that's all."  
  
"Let me see that," said Lyla. Tim reluctantly handed it over and Lyla unfurled it. After reading it, she shook her head. "I'm sorry Tim, but this is just an old useless map. Me and my sisters before they moved away made it seventeen years ago when we were three."  
  
Tim looked crestfallen. "But... it's really old!"  
  
"It's the type of parchment we made it on," answered Lyla as she pointed it out. Sure enough, the parchment was covered in childlike scribbling. "That treasure you're asking for is actually in the basement cellar. It's an old chest of clothing we used to play with."  
  
"Aw nuts," said Tim, kicking at the dirt he had piled up. "And I thought for SURE this was going to help the town."  
  
"Why do you say that?" asked Lyla. Ann was curious as well as she took the map from Lyla and began to study it.  
  
"Well.... if I find a whole heap of treasure, then they can't tear the place down, right? Bob and I won't have to move away to Forget-Me-Not Village and Gwen won't have to leave and go to Flowerbud Village." Tim sat down heavily and his expression teared up. "I just wanna help."  
  
Lyla's went over and dried his eyes with a corner of her dress. "There now. It's all right."  
  
Ann squinted at the parchment and held it up to the sunlight. She then gasped. "Hey guys? Check this out."  
  
Lyla and Tim went over and stood behind Ann who held it to the light. Lyla gasped and Tim made a "Wow" sound.  
  
The map gleamed as the sunlight shone through it, revealing markings and notes and co-ordinates on the island map. Instructions were written on the sides and Tim jumped for joy. "It IS a treasure map!"  
  
"I never noticed this before," said Lyla as she examined the map that the suns light revealed to them. "It looks like it marks the location of something. But I can't read the words on it."  
  
"They're faded, but that's not the point. It's in an older language," added Ann. She then brought it down and rolled up the map. "I think this is the break we're going to need."  
  
"So.... if we can't read it, then how do we know where this place is?" inquired Tim. He was bouncing from one foot to another in expectant joy.  
  
Ann rubbed her chin as she said slowly, "How about Woody, the carpenter? He may be able to read it. And if not, I know this person over in Forget Valley that may help. He and his assistant came through Mineral Town on an archeological dig."  
  
"You think we can get these people to help?" asked Tim.  
  
"I'm sure of it," Ann replied with a small smile. "Lets try it!"  
  
===============  
  
Cliff stretched as he leaned against the nearby tree trunk and tossed out his fishing pole. "This is the life," he said idely to no one in paticular.  
  
"You enjoy fishing?" inquired a voice from behind him. Cliff looked up and found Joe walking towards him, fishing pole in hand. "Nice fishing pole," remarked Joe as he tossed out his line.  
  
"It's Jacks," said Cliff with a grin. "Greg the fisherman gave it to him. Pull up some turf."  
  
Joe settled down with a sigh as he let his line dangle in the middle of the lake. "This is the life. Fishing, you know?"  
  
Cliff laughed. "I remember living on nothing but fish when I was travelling around. It's some life, living from meal to meal until you find a place you can call home."  
  
"So where are you from?" asked Joe as he recast his line. "I know you're from Mineral Town, but from where originally?"  
  
"A small town outside of Flowerbed City," replied Cliff with a shrug. "I get some letters from home every so often. My sister and mom are doing fine. When my dad died, I had to come out looking for work. That's when I found myself in Mineral Town. Officially, I'm working for Manna and Duke who run the Aja Winery. I'll be heading back there during the Fall to help with the Harvest."  
  
"Don't you guys have lives over in Mineral Town?" asked Joe as he adjusted the length of the line with a few rapid spins of the reel.  
  
"Some. Rick and Popuri are heading back home in a couple of days to make sure that Stu and May are doing well working with their mother at the chicken farm. Last I heard, Nami, a new girl in town had gotten a job at Chicken Lil's and is helping the kids work on the farm. The Doctor is doing fine as always. Doug isn't exactly hurting for help right now and Manna and Duke are all right. Anna keeps the Library open three days out of the week and I think Grey is happier without Saibara breathing down his neck."  
  
"Sounds like you guys are popping in and out of this place," said Joe. A swish of his arm and he snagged in a small lake trout. Giving it a sharp whack across the head to dizzy it, he strung it up on a fish chain and let it dangle into the water where it swam around dizzily. "Are you all really going to stay here as long as possible?"  
  
"With the exception of Jack who left his farm to Mayor Thomas who in turn gave it to Harris his son, we all need to return at least once or twice a season. Kai will return but right now, he's working at the vineyard at Flowerbud Village."  
  
Joe made a whistling sound. "Man, I love Aja Wine. They stopped shipping here though when I had just moved in. That and Door to Heaven from the Flowerbud Vineyards but I haven't seen a bottle here in years."  
  
"Well that's no good," replied Cliff. "I'll see about getting Duke and Manna shipping stuff here this spring. Can't have buisness and a town without something to drink now can we?"  
  
"How are you going to get back?" asked Joe as he recast his line and settled down for another long wait. "The ferry doesn't run until sunday."  
  
"We gave Kai a call over in Flowerbud Village. He'll pick us up tommorow morning." replied Cliff as he cast his line in after putting more bait onto the end.  
  
Joe gave Cliff a confused sideways look. "How did you call your friend over in Flowerbud Village? There's no phone around here."  
  
Cliff grinned as he tugged in a fish and gave it a whack across the head. "Jack has a Cellular Phone from the City where he used to live. He said the signal is weak, but still doable. As it stands, he sends his dad cash every season to keep up payments." Cliff then laughed as he tossed his line out into the water. "Jack has the most technology on the whole island practically. I've been in his house and he has a TV and Radio that picks up local and national news. And he brought some stuff over from the mainland like his iPod and such."  
  
"Eye-whatsis?" Joe asked blankly. "What's this Eye thing?"  
  
"An iPod is a small device that can store up to one thousand hours of music. Jack is a big technogeek despite his farmer boy appearance. He said he wished he could bring his PC with him when he came the first year, but his dad wanted him to try living like his grandpa did."  
  
"Ah. I haven't been to the City. I've lived here since I was about fifteen years old. Mom and dad grew ill and I had to come here to work. Found a job with Woody, being an apprentice carpenter. Got to a point where we can get a house extention done in one day." Joe tossed out his line once again and immediately began to reel in as a fish nibbled at the line.  
  
"That's really good," said Cliff as he tugged in another fish. "Gotz takes three days for an extention back home. Do you get the Harvest Sprites to help you out at building so quickly?"  
  
"Harvest Sprites?" Joe shook his head. "Harvest Sprites are just a legend Woody told me when I was younger. "If there are any, we can't see them."  
  
"Really? That's odd. Everyone knows about the Sprites back in Mineral Town. Heck, I've seen them working on Jack's farm when he's running like mad to get the whole place harvested." Cliff shrugged. "I suppose they just don't show themselves to just anyone."  
  
Joe reeled in one more fish and strung it up on the line. "Well, I think that's enough fish for tonight. I'm going to go sell these to Wallace. Never hurts to have a few G in your pocket, huh?"  
  
"All right. Oh, me and my friends are planning a Goddess Festival celebration up at Goddess Pond. Come by tommorow around ten if you want to join in." Cliff grinned. "The girls'll put on quite a show."  
  
"All right, I'll do that. Nice meeting you Cliff." Joe picked up his line of fish and headed off towards Wallace's Resturant.  
  
Reeling in his line with a final fish, Cliff stuffed it into a rucksack for storage in the new extention. Joe wasn't kidding. Once they had woken up that morning, a sparkling new extention stood where the rickety old farm house was. There were communal rooms for both the girls and guys, a large kitchen and two bathrooms.  
  
Standing up and stretching, Cliff sighed, yawned and headed back to the farm.  
  
===============  
  
News came that night in the form of Kai who had taken a stop at Mineral Town before he had arrived at Sugar Village. The Ferry was working more often now, as people tended to move to the town recently or at least passed through it on their way, inexplicably to Forget-Me-Not Valley.  
  
The girl Nami had moved on after a few days and headed over the small hill towards Forget-Me-Not Valley. There was only one way in and out of that Valley, and it was through Mineral Town. A lot of odd folk coming through recently, as quoted by Kai who quoted Zack.  
  
The newest arrival that week was old man Takakura. I knew Takakura as he came to my farm every day to ship produce out from Vesta's Farm over in Forget Valley. Between Vesta and myself, whom I maintained a friendly rivalry with during the time she came herself to sell vegetables in town, Takakura was always a sight for sore eyes. When Vesta couldn't make it herself, and Marlin was too ill to travel, Takakura headed out and arrived sometime around ten o'clock every day.  
  
Today however, he came back on the Ferry of all things, having taken it to the City to fetch someone, presumably the kid of a family friend of his. The kid was as green as, well, me actually, as he had a wide eyed expression that took in everything around him. Said his name was Negi and Takakura was a friend of his fathers. Negi looked like a complete city boy, and I suppose I wasn't far off the mark. Then again, I suppose I'll always have one foot in Flowerbed City and another in Mineral Town.  
  
Takakura stayed long enough to get a meal at Doug's place and help Lillia and the kids out with the chicken farm before he and Negi went off to Forget Valley. I remember Vesta saying that there was an old farmhouse and fields that wern't currently run by anyone. Though Takakura had been living on the land, keeping the fields weeded as if he was waiting for someone. That someone seemed to be Negi as he introduced him as the Son of his Best Friend.  
  
Since Nami had moved on, Rick and Popuri's mother was the only one there with barely enough help from the kids, Stu and May. There was a bit of a hiccup and both of Lillia's kids had to be restrained from swimming home in a blind panic. Takakura was able to help out before he and Negi had to make the trip over to the other town.  
  
But thanks to a new family in town who had moved into the Vacation House that I had gotten built (It was technically mine, but I gave up the land deed for it), the father of the household, I think his name was Grant, was able to roll up his sleeves and help out Lillia. He's got the whole Office Worker look to him, with the starched shirt and black pants and black tie, but according to Lillia, he's quite good.  
  
The new family consists of Grant, his wife Samantha and their daughter Kate. Kate is still young, around Stu and May's age, and is something of a tomboy. They put down enough rent for a year so that Grant can work at getting the phone terminal office up and running in Mineral Town so that the town wouldn't be completely cut off from the rest of the world with an, albeit weak, but still workable ADSL line. I mentally rejoiced at that fact, as I could finally get my dad to send my computer.  
  
Though mentally, I sighed to myself. Rick and Popuri were just too valuable to spend all of their time in Sugar Village. Sooner or later, they'd have to head home and that would leave us short handed. But it was an unaminous decision that someone had to take care of their mother, and Samantha, even though she was a nice enough lady, couldn't do it all the time. Neither could Manna or Sasha. They had their lives and Duke was a handful, and Sasha needed to be there so that Jeff wouldn't be a total pushover when it came to Duke's tab.  
  
Focusing on the here and now, I bedded down in my new bed, listening to the loud snoring of Cliff, the gentle whisper of Kai and Rick, and the grunting of Grey. It was almost a cacophony of sounds in the bedroom, and I felt like jamming cotton in my ears to get a good nights sleep.  
  
===============  
  
"You actually packed them." Karen had a sour look on her face as Popuri giggled. Ann rolled her eyes and hauled out the thin gauzy pink dress that made up the Goddess Dress. "I can't believe you packed them."  
  
"I figured we'd need them sometime," said Popuri reasonably as she began to weave vines into Mary's black hair. "And today IS the Goddess Festival. And can you imagine our mothers doing the traditional dance over there?"  
  
"Oh god, my mom hasn't done that in ages," said Karen, heaving a sigh. "Who actually can dance this year?"  
  
"According to Kai, he said that Sasha, Manna and my mom was on the list as she's feeling much better these days. And the new woman in town, Samantha knows the dance as she used to perform back in Flowerbed City." Popuri giggled. "I heard that May was asking to perform and neatly conned Mayor Thomas to get her in along with Kate, Samantha's daughter."  
  
"Well, this is our festival now," said Elli as she finished working the vines into Karen's hair and helped the slender girl into her dress. "We should finish up. The boys are waiting for us."  
  
"Fashionably late," Ann quipped as she got her dress zipped up at the back. "Lets do this."  
  
===============  
  
"Cliff!"  
  
Cliff looked up at where he was setting out a container of strawberries and other assorted food that was brought over from Mineral Town as a small buffet. His expression split into a wide grin and he waved back at Joe. "Hey Joe!"  
  
Joe jogged over, followed by a surly looking Kurt and a smiling Woody. Kurt was holding a tomato dish as wind of the festival being held up at the top of the Goddess Pond was heard by everyone who had spoken to the kids. Several people were already there. Gina and her grandmother Martha was there with Dia curiously absent. Bob and his brother Tim were wandering around, talking to various people that included Katie, Wallace, Gwen (who was still glaring holes into Kai's back), Parsley, Lyla and Ronald.  
  
Even the Harvest Sprites, Nic, Nak and Flak were there but curiously to everyone but the group from Mineral Town, they were invisible to the townspeople. The Goddess was presumably fashionably late but she was due to show up. Of course, she was invisible to everyone but the Mineral Towners. Though Woody looked over and seemed to give the Sprites a knowing look.  
  
Pretty much everyone brought some type of food, ranging from fresh baked bread, to herb salads. The biggest contribution was Katie's cake, thankfully Karen free and not an untested version of Jack's grandmas cake. The buffet blanket, as Joe termed it, was overflowing with food. With some quick words to the Harvest Sprites, they stood guarding it from ants and doing a credible job of it.  
  
Cliff grinned as he set out the most recent dish and stretched his back. "Well, that's everything. Now we wait for Jack and the girls."  
  
"Why Jack? Isn't he here already?" Joe stood on his toes and looked around. Sure enough, there was no familiar orange and blue baseball cap.  
  
"Naw, he's bringing his Record Player. Normally we'd use Mayor Thomas' record player, but Jack was able to bring his own. Battery operated, so it's all good." Cliff grinned as he slapped Joe on the back. "C'mon man, let's mingle."  
  
"And then the duck says to the pig...." As the pair passed Bob who was engrossed in some kind of joke, Cliff got a curious expression on his face and Joe chuckled.  
  
"It's an old joke that Bob tells every so often when he's in a good mood," said Joe as he meandered past Lyla, saying hello as he passed by and getting a backslap from Ronald. "It ends with the duck doing something or what not, and the pig is... well, never mind."  
  
Cliff grinned as he shaded his eyes and checked his watch. "It's about ten thirty. The girls should be here in a few minutes."  
  
True to form, the five girls from Mineral Town crested the hill, Jack taking up the rear with an armload of records and a shiney new record player. Getting oohs and aahs from the people, the girls made their way to the front of the Goddess Pond as the Goddess herself appeared from the depths of the water to watch the tribute to her and her siblings.  
  
Jack set up the record player and turned it on after loading the music. A silence could be heard and then, the girls broke into a dance formation that they had learned as a child.  
  
================  
  
"Having a good time?"  
  
Karen turned around and smiled at Katie who giggled. "It's such a pretty dress," said Katie as she looked Karen over.  
  
"It has its uses," Karen said with a smile. She took a sip of wine as Katie handed her some fresh Veryberries on a plate. Looking the younger girl over, Karen quirked an eyebrow and said, "Is this your first time at a Goddess Festival?"  
  
Katie nodded as she bit into an Apple. "Yes it is. Grandma used to tell me about this, well, Jack's Grandma."  
  
"You really liked being around her, huh?" said Karen as she played with a Verryberry, pushing it around on her plate. "Were you raised by her?"  
  
"Something like that." Katie sighed and a distant expression came over her face. "When mom and dad died and left me with Grandpa Wallace, I didn't have anyone else to be with except Grandpa. When I was young, I used to go over to the Sugar Farm and talk and bake hours on end with her. She was a very nice woman, and provided the feminine support I needed."  
  
"I see." Karen picked up the Veryberry from her plate, took a bite and said, "Katie, I'm going back to Mineral Town for a while.... and I'd like you to come with me."  
  
Katie blinked in surprise. "What? Why are you leaving?"  
  
Karen nibbled at the fruit thoughtfully for a moment before replying, "Harris, the mayors son, sent me a note with Kai. One of the cows is so happy, it's producing Golden Milk. But it's old, and Harris is unsure if it'll last the week. I have to go there before the cow dies and then wait a couple more days for the chickens to start producing Golden Eggs as well. If you come with me, we'll be able to work double time and get all the Golden Dairy Produce we need for experimentation later on."  
  
Katie shuffled her feet as she thought about the proposition. "I'll have to tell my grandpa so he won't worry. It'll just be a couple of days, right?" At Karen's nod, Katie grinned and said, "All right then! I'll tell grandpa and we'll get going first thing tommorow morning."  
  
"Looks like we're not the only ones who are leaving," said Ann as she swept up behind Karen and took a slice of cake handed to her by Flak. She then patted the sprite on the head and gave him a mushroom while the girls were focused on the food momentarily. It wouldn't do to see a mushroom floating in mid-air. "Tim, Lyla and I are headed to Forget-Me-Not Valley."  
  
"Woody wasn't able to decipher the map?" asked Katie. Ann shook her head.  
  
"Nope. Tim wanted to come along but Bob insisted that he was too young to make the trip with us. So Lyla stepped in and said she'll come with us." Ann speared a chunk of cake with her fork and ate it. "We'll drop a load of seeds off at the farm before we leave on Kai's boat."  
  
"So exactly who is staying here?" asked Katie as she sipped at a bit of grape wine that was handed to her in a small tin cup.  
  
"Jack of course, Grey, Cliff and Kai will be here along with Mary and Elli. I'm headed out, along with you and Karen, Rick and Popuri are returning home for the season and that's about it."  
  
"Kai and Gwen in the same area and beheaving? That's asking the moon to fall." said Katie.  
  
Karen shrugged. "I guess if the moon hasn't decimated the town by the time we return, we'll get a better idea of how things are working."  
  
"Kai is actually heading back to Flowerbud Village soon. He's just our ferry." said Ann as she finished her cake slice.  
  
"There's one way of putting him," said Karen with a snort.  
  
==================  
  
Morning dawned the next day to see off the others. It would be another season before I saw Popuri and Rick again, a week and a half before I saw Karen and Katie, and almost two seasons before Ann returned.  
  
It would be a long haul, but with the rest of us working at our ideas of helping out the Village, I was sure we could pull through.  
  
As the morning sun rose and the boat chugged off towards Mineral Town, I set my cap to my head and wished them the best. 


	5. Chapter 5 : Travels

On Our Own  
  
written by Shaun Garin  
  
Harvest Moon Back to Nature and Save the Homeland is owned by Natsume Entertainment. This is my take on Save the Homeland and Back to Nature, which, in my opinion is a very good game, but could have slowed down the passing of time and extended the length of time you need to conceivably save the whole freaking town. Rated E for Everyone, Use of Alcohol and mild language.  
  
I hold characterization nothing but sacred. I try to portray the personalities true to both games as best as possible.  
  
==================  
  
Chapter 5 : Travels  
  
==================  
  
"Aaaaaah, Mineral Town. How I have missed thee."  
  
Karen gave Ann a pointed look and smirked. "We've been gone half a week at the most."  
  
"It's the principal of the thing," replied Ann, sticking out her tongue at the other girl.  
  
Rick grabbed his rucksack and slung it over his shoulder. "Well, I'm gonna head back home. I'm sure Stu and May are still struggling over the chickens. Popuri, you coming?"  
  
Popuri looked at her brother quizzically as she said, "Um, sure, I guess."  
  
Rick smirked and chuckled. "You're not much of a disaster zone around the chickens anymore. You'll do fine."  
  
Popuri got an upset look on her face but it was belayed by the twinkle in her eye. "Dork," she said as she stuck her tongue out at him.  
  
"Twitchy Midget," Rick shot back as the pair quibbled all the way to Chicken Lil's. Karen rolled her eyes as Katie shot her an inquisitive glance.  
  
"Are they always like that?" inquired Katie as the pair passed the Chicken Farm and rounded the corner onto Mineral Farm.  
  
Karen sighed a long suffering sigh. "Always. Harris!"  
  
Harris jogged up to the pair and Karen nearly did a double take. The local constable was usually dressed in his uniform and cap, but today he was dressed in what passed for working clothes. Red work gloves with black grips on the fingers, a plain white t-shirt which was already stained with dirt and blue jeans that looked new but well broken in. Topping it was a bandanna around his neck to catch sweat from pouring down his face onto his clothing and sturdy black boots. Karen had to admit that Harris did a rather credible Jack imitation. "Hello Karen!" said Harris jovially. "Who's your friend?"  
  
"Harris this is Katie. Katie this is Harris," said Karen by way of introduction. "We came about the Golden Products that you wrote us about."  
  
"Ah, yeah, about that." Harris looked uncomfortable as he lead the pair towards the pasture where a fence stood and several cows milled around it, munching on the long grass. "Seems that when I was collecting milk, I was out of Golden Milk cans and kinda put it into a Large can."  
  
"You sold it? Oi." Karen shrugged as she said, "How about the Golden Eggs?"  
  
Harris smiled at that. "No worries. I stockpiled a ton of them into the fridge in the house and there's still a lot left from when Jack was running the farm. It's just the milk that needs work. I give the cow about a half a week before it starts producing again. Caught a tiny cold when I didn't get it into the barn fast enough."  
  
Karen nodded and then turned to Katie. "Well, you want a tour of the town? It's not much, but I'm sure there's stuff we can do here."  
  
Katie tapped her lip and said, "Well, actually I'd like to see those Hot Springs you keep talking about."  
  
Karen's eyes lit up. "I thought you'd never ask. Lets head to my place and get towels."  
  
===================  
  
"Are we there yet?" inquired Tim as the trio marched up Mothers Hill. Lyla shrugged, her eyes asking the question as well.  
  
Ann nodded. "Yeah, just over this hill." Saying so, Ann broke the crest of the hill and looked over the valley of Forget-Me-Not Valley. "Here we are."  
  
Lyla looked down on the valley and inhaled sharply. "It's so... small."  
  
"A lot of people have been moving here recently," said Ann as she started down the road towards the bottom of the Valley. "C'mon, I'm sure someone knows where Professor Carter is."  
  
Tim bounded past the pair and scampered to a halt in front of a large vegetable farm. "Lets ask here," he said, bounding up to the nearby toolshed and knocking on it.  
  
A voice called out, "Come in!" and Tim entered the shed to look up at a large woman dressed in a yellow apron. "Hello there sonny!" she boomed. "What brings you here to Forget Valley?"  
  
"Hi ma'am, I'm Tim!" Tim greeted. The door opened once again and Ann and Lyla stepped inside.  
  
The woman looked over at Ann and laughed. "Well bless me, ain't it Ann! How's your father doing?"  
  
"Hi Vesta!" Ann replied back in the same exuberance that Vesta showed. "Dad's fine, thanks. Your veggies are really good."  
  
Vesta laughed heartily as she made room for the newcomers. Sitting down on a crate, she nodded towards Lyla and asked, "Who're you miss?"  
  
"Lyla," Lyla said, politely nodding. "Pleased to meet you."  
  
"Likewise. So, what brings you three here?"  
  
Ann reached into her pocket and withdrew the map and showed it to Vesta. "A group of us went to Sugar Village in order to keep it from being torn down. Lyla and Tim here are townsfolk of the area. We found this map and was hoping that Carter was around to decipher it as Woody, the Sugar Village carpenter, can't."  
  
Vesta nodded. "Well, Carter is around here somewhere. He's usually up at the dig site near the waterfall. Otherwise, he's wandering around town. You may want to try and find Flora as well as she's up and about at this point in time."  
  
"That's a big help. Thanks Vesta." said Ann as she put the map away. "There's an Inn here, right?"  
  
"Yep," said Vesta as she gestured with her thumb behind her, pointing through the wall. "Over across the river is the Inner Inn. I'm sure Tim and Ruby would love to have visitors."  
  
"Thanks. Oh, Jack sends his regards from Sugar Village." said Ann as the trio headed out the door.  
  
"Tell that young farmer he'd better save that town!" Vesta called out after them as they waved at her.  
  
At the wood bridge, Lyla looked around and said, "Well, there's the waterfall. Tim, why don't you go and look around. Ann and I can handle this."  
  
"Righto. Later then." Tim jogged off towards the Inn as Lyla and Ann headed up towards the Waterfall.  
  
==================  
  
"Kai, good to see you again," greeted Jake as Kai pulled up to the docks. "I thought you would be gone for another day or so."  
  
"Naw," said Kai, shaking his head as he tied his boat up. "Can't leave the Vineyard for so long, ya know? How's Missus Karen doing?"  
  
Jake chuckled as he clapped the other teenager on the shoulder. "Same as always. Kevin is doing fine as well. He just got out of the sleeping all day stage and is toddling all over the farm."  
  
Kai grinned as he headed up with Jake towards the Flowerbud Farm. "I'm sure it's gonna be a nice spring. The Vineyard is taking root."  
  
Jake nodded as the pair passed the Green Ranch, listening to the arguement Cliff and Ann were having. "Same old, same old. Speaking of same old, you went to Mineral Town a while ago, right, to ferry my cousin Jack?"  
  
"Oh yeah. Jack's doing fine. He's over in Sugar Village right now." Kai shook his head. "Flowerbud and Mineral Town are so similar, with the inhabitants and all. Rick is suggesting alien cloning while Jack is countering with seperated twins from birth."  
  
"I seriously doubt that," said Jake but his eyes were twinkling. "No one could copy the Gourmet."  
  
The pair laughed at that as they entered the Flowerbud Farm. "So," said Jake as he and Kai went over to the crops. "you look like you have a mission on hand."  
  
"Yeah," said Kai as he picked up a large plump Turnip from the ground and tossed it into Jake's arms. "I'm here to find Louis for Jack."  
  
"The crazy insect guy?" asked Jake. "the Mayors wife tossed him out of her garden for trampling on her herbs while chasing some kinda butterfly."  
  
"That would be Louis," said Kai, shaking his head. "Gotz is gonna KILL him for roughing up other towns in the persuit for rare insects to study."  
  
"Why'd you need to find him?" said Jake as he pulled up several more Turnips and tossed it into Kai's arms. "It seems important."  
  
"Well, I need to talk to Louis and Lillia as well," replied Kai as he deposited the Turnips into a nearby basket. "because back over in Sugar Village, we need to find a Blue Mist Flower that attracts the Azure Swallowtail Butterfly. According to Joe, it's a very rare butterfly that could feasably save the town from being torn down. But it only blossoms for the summer."  
  
"I see where this is going. The Azure Swallowtail is endangered, huh?" at Kai's nod, Jake grinned. "Well, I'm sure Lillia has a ton of those Blue Mist Flower seeds somewhere in her store. C'mon, we'll go there together."  
  
Kai raised an eyebrow as he looked over Jake's expansive fields. "You sure you can afford to take today off?"  
  
"Yeah, it's all right. Turnips are the only thing planted this year that'll grow later today." With that, and a shrug from Kai, the pair headed off towards the Town Center.  
  
==================  
  
"Welcome to.... oh hi Jake, Kai. What brings you here?"  
  
"Heya Popuri," said Kai. "I'm looking for some Blue Mist Seeds. Do you have any?"  
  
"Blue Mist, huh?" said Popuri as she checked behind the counter. "Yeah, we do. 500 G for one bag."  
  
Kai winced at the price. "Hmm... well, okay. I'll take three of em."  
  
Popuri put the seeds into a larger paper bag and handed it over to Kai who put three 500 G coins on the counter. "Thanks a lot. Hey Kai, what do you need those for anyhow?"  
  
"Jack asked me to find em. He's the farmer over in Mineral Town I'm friends with, though right now he's over in Sugar Village." said Kai.  
  
"I don't know how you manage to make a trip so frequently over to Mineral Town, let alone Sugar Village." said Popuri. "Isn't Sugar Village scheduled to be knocked down next spring?"  
  
"Yeah it is," said Kai. "But with any luck, these flowers'll help us out."  
  
"Going to pretty up the place?" inquired Popuri, earning a smile from Kai.  
  
"More like going to attract a Rare butterfly to the place and take a photograph of it." answered Jake.  
  
Popuri blinked. "You mean an Azure Swallowtail?" The two men exchanged surprised glances. Popuri smirked. "Grey and I have seen it once before, when he planted the Blue Mist Flower over near the Goddess Pond."  
  
Kai slapped his forehead. "I should have remembered that! Grey was talking about it for more than a week afterwards."  
  
Popuri giggled and Jake laughed. "You really have to work on that memory of yours Kai."  
  
Kai shrugged as he put the bag away into his rucksack that Jack had loaned him. "Well, I think I'm gonna return back to the Vineyard and help out there before I head back to Sugar Village to drop these seeds off."  
  
"You sure you can't stay until tommorow?" asked Popuri. "You ARE the Harvest King afterall and we can't do the Sowing Festival until you return."  
  
Kai froze in his tracks. "Oh bugger! I forgot about that!" He then sighed, shrugged and turned back to them. "Looks like I'll be giving Jack a call then."  
  
"Phone is over there," said Jake, gesturing to a phone on the wall, rarely used.  
  
==================  
  
"Spanish Inquisition, we do maulings and stabbings hello?" Cliff smirked as he leaned on the hoe. "Yeah yeah, I know. Okay, I'll tell Jack. No, there hasn't been a phone call from town yet. Okay, later Kai." Cliff turned off the cellular phone and tossed it over to Jack who caught it deftly. "Kai called."  
  
"I gathered that. And?"  
  
"He has to stay for a day or so. Said that your cousin Jake and Popuri reminded him that he was the Harvest King or something like that and there's some kinda duties he needs to get through. Not to mention that the Vineyard is taking good root."  
  
Grey shrugged as he finished planting a row of tomatoes and doused them with water. "As long as he gets here with those seeds, it's not a bad thing, right?"  
  
"I don't think it's such a bad thing anyhow," said Mary as she finished up working on the fence that had broken down during a nasty windstorm. The bookish librarian girl had found herself quite good at repairing things and with Elli and Jack's help, the fence was becoming an impenetrable wall where no cow could break though. "He has obligations over in Flowerbud."  
  
"Feels so empty after less than seven days with a ton of people here," remarked Cliff as he leaned on the hoe after cultivating several more sections of dirt.  
  
"That's life for ya," said Jack as he worked on pulling up some fast growing Potatoes. "Comes in fits and spurts." He then grinned. "I LOVE the weather conditions in this area!"  
  
"What, the fact that you can grow anything all through the year, or the fact that Sugar Village gets typhoons every season?" There was no malice in Grey's voice, but it was laced with amusement.  
  
"Option A," replied Jack smartly.  
  
Elli stood from a half crouch and massaged her fingers. "Lets keep going. As soon as we finish the planting we can go up and work with the other villagers on ideas."  
  
"I got a new one," said Cliff as he broke up the dirt with a swing of the hoe. "I was talking to Joe and he said there's a silver fish in the lake. If I catch that on a full moon, I'll be able to send something of it in and get this place declared as a wildlife preserve."  
  
"That's great!" exlaimed Mary. "Anything else?"  
  
Grey tipped his hat and nodded. "Yep. I took over for Rick up at Brownie Farm. In any day, we can get a fine racing horse. Then we can bring it to the races and beat out Cliffguard."  
  
Jack whistled. "Cliffguard huh? He won the first year I came to Mineral Town, right? With the jockey from Green Farm, right?"  
  
Grey nodded. "Yeah. My 'evil twin' over in Flowerbud Village used to ride before he had an accident involving a horse. Since then, I haven't seen him since I was young."  
  
"The conversation must have been stimulating," remarked Cliff and he and Jack laughed. Mary sighed and Elli rolled her eyes.  
  
"Meatheads," Elli remarked, dusting off her hands on her jeans.  
  
==================  
  
"Welcome home you two," greeted Lillia as she bustled around the kitchen.  
  
"Hi mom," Popuri said, going up to hug her mom. Giving her a tight squeeze, she said, "You look really good!"  
  
Lillia giggled, turned and embraced her son. After pulling away, the pink haired woman picked up some eggs and rice and placed it on the table. "Stu and May have been just darling help around here, and Grant from across the street has been so much help. Also, Takakura has come over and helped several times while in town now."  
  
"Takakura huh?" asked Rick as he sat down at the table and picked up a plate from the stack and distributed it. "Has he been coming around more often lately?"  
  
"Now that you mention it, he has," replied his mother as she sat down and placed a pot of Relaxation Tea on the table with three teacups. "Takakura has been coming up to Mineral Town with not only the shipments from Vesta's Farm but shipments from a new place called Forgetful Farm."  
  
"A new farm in town huh?" inquired Popuri as she nibbled on the eggs on her plate. "That ought to be fun for the villagers."  
  
As the family ate, a knock on the door made Rick get up and answer it. Standing there was a thin man with glasses, dressed in what passed for working clothing. A pair of slacks and a colorful t-shirt. "Good day," he greeted and Rick couldn't help but notice that his face was lined with worry wrinkles that make him look years older. "I'm here to help out again."  
  
"You're Grant, am I right sir?" At Grants nod, Rick let him in and said, "Sit down for a while. We're just having breakfast."  
  
"It's quite all right," said Grant. "I'll just have some tea if you don't mind."  
  
"Not at all," said Lillia as Popuri got up and fetched another cup. Pouring the tea, Grant took a long sniff of it and sipped at the tea. He seemed to visibly relax while sipping at the drink.  
  
"Thanks for keeping an eye on the place for us sir," said Popuri as she finished her food and got up to clean her plate. "We kinda left abruptly so we didn't set up a replacement for us."  
  
"That's quite all right, I'm glad to help." replied Grant as he finished his tea and stood up. "Thank you for the tea."  
  
"No problem," said Rick as he finished his own breakfast. "I'll get going on today's chores then Mom."  
  
"Be sure to let Stu and May help as well," reminded Lillia as she finished her own breakfast.  
  
"I will." And with that, Rick headed out the door.  
  
===================  
  
"Yes.. I see... these runes are similar to the tablet that Negi dug out of the ground yesterday," said Carter as he looked over the map. "Do you mind leaving this here for me? I'll get to work on it immediately."  
  
Ann cocked her head to the side. "Don't you need to keep working on the dig site though?"  
  
Carter laughed, a sound much like the Santa of old stories. "No need," he replied dismissively. "This dig will be my lifes work here. I can certianly take a few weeks to decipher something else. Go ahead and wander the place. It's not much, but it's comfortable."  
  
"Thank you for doing this," said Lyla.  
  
Carter nodded. "You don't need to thank me. I'm just doing my part in helping your home from being knocked down. Now go on. I'm sure there are lots of people to meet here and you still need to check in at the Inner Inn."  
  
Ann chuckled and she and Lyla left the small tent. "That's Carter for you, totally informal," she said as the pair headed down towards Vesta's Farm.  
  
"He certianly knows what he's doing," replied Lyla as the pair crossed the bridge, nodding to an elderly couple who passed by. "Though he seemed a bit oblivious that I flirted with him."  
  
Ann laughed, startling a scientest in range. "That's Carter for you. He's TOTALLY oblivious to children and the opposite sex."  
  
"Then how do you explain his assistant?" inquired Lyla curiously.  
  
"She's his student actually, but there's zero romance between them." Ann shrugged as she pushed the doors to the Inner Inn open. "Hello?"  
  
A large man dressed chiefly in yellow and red startled as he turned around. "Oh hello!" he exclaimed jovially. "I thought you were Negi coming to visit. Welcome to the Inner Inn."  
  
"Hello Tim," said Ann.  
  
Tim looked at Ann for a moment and then his face lit up. "Well bless me! Ann! I haven't seen you since Ruby and I passed through Mineral Town when you were just knee high! C'mere and give your uncle a hug!"  
  
Ann hugged the larger man and Lyla asked, "He's your uncle?"  
  
"Mom's side," replied Ann as she pulled away. "Tim, this is Lyla. She runs the flower shop over in Sugar Village."  
  
"So what brings you here from Mineral Town?" asked Tim as he sat the girls down on a wing backed love seat. "Surely not just to visit your old uncle Tim."  
  
"Actually we came here from Sugar Village to get a map deciphered. Carter is looking at it right now." replied Ann.  
  
"We were hoping that if we can get the runes on it figured out, we can find something that might help the town before it's scheduled knock down date of Spring the first." added Lyla.  
  
"I see," said Tim. "Well, I assume that means you're going to stay here, right?" The girls nodded and he grinned. "I have two rooms, one is being rented but there's two more beds in there. The other one is being used by Rock."  
  
"There's someone else that came along with us," said Lyla. "A little boy named Tim."  
  
"Ah. Well, I'm sure Rock won't mind the company." Tim then jabbed a thumb over at the stairs. "Rooms are up top. Lets get you girls settled in."  
  
====================  
  
Review answer to CFFJ : The name Negi came from the manga Negima! Magister Negi Magi by Ken Akamatsu. While I would have mainly followed in the tradition of Jack and different J-labeled incarnations, there is a precident of a main charecter being named differently. In GB3 Harvest Moon, the Farmers are named Pete and Sara and Pete was the same farmer from GB2 Harvest Moon. It is safe to assume that Natsume has juggled between Pete and Jack as a male name, and Sara as a default female name. 


	6. Chapter 6 : Furos, Silk and Cards

On Our Own

written by Shaun Garin

Harvest Moon Back to Nature and Save the Homeland is owned by Natsume Entertainment. This is my take on Save the Homeland and Back to Nature, which, in my opinion is a very good game, but could have slowed down the passing of time and extended the length of time you need to conceivably save the whole freaking town. Rated E for Everyone, Use of Alcohol and mild language.

I hold characterization nothing but sacred. I try to portray the personalities true to both games as best as possible.

Chapter 6 : Furos, Silk and Cards

* * *

Grey came home that night, half a week after the departure of the others. He was muttering something about Silk and I figured it was about the Goddess Dress. Katie had been nice enough to leave her designs out for Grey, Mary and Gina and the trio were making various different types of dresses, but each one seemed to be one disaster after another.

Well, I suppose disaster was too big of a word for it. Sure you see those gorgeous Goddess dresses in Flowerbed City. Low cut, slinky, makes the model, who by the way is already hot, even hotter. But it didn't scream the purity of the Goddesses.

I have to laugh at times when someone talks about the Goddess and claims he has seen one. The Goddess in Flowerbed City has long since moved on. No one takes care of her pond anymore except for an elderly man I remember seeing, picking out trash and cans from her pond. I'm sure if she still lived there, she would be grateful to the elderly man.

How do I know this? Well, the Goddesses around the farming communities all network. I dunno, maybe some kinda psychic phoneline or something like that. Or maybe someone tossed in a wireless modem and a Dell Pentium Four into each pond. Goddess Email dot Com. It makes me laugh whenever Grey and I, arguably the only ones who knows something about modern technology, talk about the logistics of the Goddesses and computers. Zack knows some having come from the mainland before the pair of us, but he's a bit out of touch at the moment.

Then again, this IS a world where we're just getting out of boats and Airplanes are newfangled, while some companies are running computers that became smaller and smaller and massively more powerful in leaps and bounds.

Cliff knows some stuff about computers, but very little. Cliff's not so smart academically (sure he's no rocket scientist but he did at least finish High School), but on his feet, he knows his things. Came from a farm down south of Flowerbed City, and when his father died, he up and went out looking for work to support the family.

Surprisingly Mary knows some things about computers. She'd have to know, considering she reads so much stuff, along with the occasional scientific journal that comes out of the city. Elli is hopeless with even a typewriter though. She hunts and pecks and takes a hour and a half to finish three paragraphs. Then again, not everyone has a 50 word per minute average. Though Elli CAN be rather helpless at times. Can't even work a radio.

I'm getting off track I suppose. Word came to me from Ann who phoned me from Forget-Me-Not Valley. They had gotten the professor to look at the map and he said it would take at least a season to decipher it. And then, they'd be back. I sighed at that. A whole season without seeds from the Flower Shop.

Another phone call came quickly afterwards as Karen phoned us from the Inn over in Mineral Town. Everyone there was doing well and between the help, Chicken Lil's had been returned back to normal with Rick and Popuri pitching in. Also, the next time Kai could get away from his duties in Flowerbud Village, he'd come to pick them up and our shipment of seeds for planting. It was about bleeding time. I needed to plant some strawberries and watermelons as soon as possible.

Those seeds came from Vesta like all of the seeds from Mineral Town Grocers are or are made by a seed maker. Jeff has a supply shipment between there, and that's where I met Takakura. He came early one morning, toting a huge crate of seeds. Bent over and stooped that he is, he's one hell of a strong guy.

Vesta's Farm was rather famous in these parts, supplying seeds to most of the archipelago or what not. Flowerbud Village gets them and Mineral Town gets them. There's talk that the other towns around the area, including the town where Uncle Pete and Aunt Sara (name of the town escapes me at the moment) live together. I visited Uncle Pete when I was fifteen and I'm pretty damn sure that's where me and Jake got our looks. He looks like us, only a bit older and middle aged. Jake and I raised a lot of hell in that town to tell the truth, but Aunt Sara was there all the time, getting us OUT of trouble. Never mess with a woman who has trained a CAT of all things to guard the farm from stray dogs and wolves.

Sure you're laughing. But when it picks up a rapier and steps into boots, see how well you handle things before getting mauled by the kitty.

I'm getting off topic once again, and yes, that last part seemed weird. Good, it was meant to be. I think it was roughly the twelfth of Spring when Karen and Katie returned to Sugar Village, just in time for the first storm of the season.

* * *

"It'll be nice to return home," said Katie as she brushed a lock of curly blonde hair away from her face. Karen nodded as she steadied herself on the side of Kai's boat.

Kai guided the boat towards the docks and soon, had it moored and lashed to the rickety old dock. Once it was secured, he reached over and picked up his backpack and a crate of golden eggs. "All right, lets get a move on." He eyed the horizon which was starting to gather into an angry ball of black clouds. "That storm is gonna hit rather quickly."

Halfway up the stairs, the storm hit. Up above, Karen heard the cries of Jack and Grey and the barking of Jack's Dog as Cows were herded into the barn along with the clucking of chickens as Cliff shouted over the wind and rain.

Scrambling up the stairway, the trio burst onto Jack's property and ran for the door. The others had gotten into the house previously and the door was shut. Fumbling with the doorknob, Kai kicked at the door and it burst open, revealing the others who were sitting around the table, setting out a deck of Poker cards. "You couldn't bother to open the freaking door?" Kai exclaimed as he dripped on the floor.

Elli giggled as she took the crate of eggs from him and helped Karen and Katie into the house. "Oh my you're all soaked!"

"Well there's the understatement of the year," remarked Karen as she removed her vest and wrung out the water. Then, with a snap of the sodden and twisted vest, she snapped at the men who were staring. "Quit it!"

Grey and Jack looked red while Kai snickered and Cliff looked away politely. Mary handed them each towels and said, "Get moving. Both bathrooms are free." She then herded the other girls into the washroom, only to glare at Grey who shrunk in his chair.

* * *

"Honestly, they could be a little less sensitive," said Katie as she poured water over her head and shivered at the cold.

Karen sighed and grumbled as she sunk to her neck in the very large furo. "It's not like they haven't seen a bit of flesh lately. Not with Kai convincing the guys to go on Peeping Raids at the Hot Spring."

"I take it from your tone that they've succeeded," said Katie. "Budge over." The blonde girl sunk into the tub and sighed happily at the heat of the furo.

Karen ran a hand through her long hair as she sighed. "They've succeeded once or twice. Then the rocks we chuck at them give them concussions."

Katie rolled her eyes as she sunk down, submerging her head. Resurfacing, she sighed and pulled her hair out of the elaborate and thick curls. "Wow, this is so much better than the shower at the Inn. You should let me come here more often."

"Probably not too often," said Karen, a mischievous smirk on her face. "Someone might think we're raving lesbians in here."

Katie giggled madly and smacked the other girl on the arm. "Aw c'mon," she replied, stretching out. "No one's gonna think that."

"I dunno," said Karen, leaning in and tickling Katie's nose. "You're certainly cute enough."

"Aw stop, you're making me blush," replied Katie with a grin.

The two girls giggled as they leaned back in the water. Then, the door slid open as Elli walked in, wrapped in a tiny towel. "Having fun you two?" she inquired, removing her towel and sitting down on the stool.

"Loads," replied Karen as she raised an eyebrow at Elli. "You seem to be lacking in embarrassment today."

"But definitely not other things," replied Katie, taking up the quick and witty banter.

Elli rolled her eyes and splashed cold water over herself. "Brr, cold! When you bathe with Mary, the shyest girl in the history of mankind, Popuri who is the most innocent soul in the world and Ann who walks around the house in a t-shirt and nothing else, you tend to loose interest in anything else."

"I dunno, that Doctor of yours was rather hunky," said Katie thoughtfully. Elli went full body blush as Karen sniggered.

"Excuse me?" Elli asked, soaping up. "Where did that come from?"

"We're just messing with you," said Karen as she submerged herself. Katie giggled and followed suit.

Elli sighed, rolled her eyes and rinsed off. "Budge over," she said, as she stepped into the furo, deliberately sitting on Karen's lap.

Karen burst out and found herself with an armful of Elli. "Well, this is comfy," Elli said.

Katie laughed as Karen decided to tickle the other girl who shrieked and giggled. The pair sloshed water over the edge of the furo as they wrestled and tickled each other with Katie cheering them on.

"Is this a private party or can anyone join in?" inquired the soft voice of Mary as she sat down and started her own bath.

Karen dodged a flying limb and said, "What is this? A scene from Jack's Love Hina mangas? When has the furo been a place of congregation?"

"Better here than in the living room," replied Mary. "With the guys breaking out the cards and Jack's manga." She then raised an eyebrow as a mischievous glint came into her eyes. "You two going to continue your frolicking or are you going to get Katie to join in?"

"All right, that's it bub," Karen exclaimed, grabbing the soapy Mary who yelped and dragged her into the furo. "You're going down!"

"Help, help, I'm being repressed!" Mary exclaimed, giggling as Katie and Elli joined in, water splashing everywhere.

* * *

A shriek cut into the air as Grey grinned. "That's one for Mary."

"And how do you know how she screams?" inquired Kai, earning a blush from the other man.

Jack snickered. "Elli and Mary are tame but with Karen and Katie in there, it's turning into a water fight. It sounds a lot weirder when Ann and Popuri are in there."

"I'm up for digging a hot spring," said Cliff as he looked over the edge of Jack's Love Hina manga, volume twelve. "If only to see the girls do this in the outdoors."

"Mmmmm, women in the nude," droned Kai, earning a laugh from the other men.

Grey listened to the water hitting the roof and shook his head. "Man, is it ever going to let up or what?"

"It's a hurricane probably," said Jack as he switched on the TV. Sure enough, the TV channel two and three showed static while a reporter droned on channel one.

"It will continue raining after the hurricane," said the man in the crisp blue suit.

Jack switched off the TV and shrugged. "It's not as bad as Mineral Town Hurricanes. We can probably go out in there."

Cliff scoffed as he looked out the window. "That's not a hurricane, at least not a Mineral Town-esque one. We can go out in that storm, no problem."

"Why would we?" asked Grey as he placed down a card and said, "Rargh, eat it Kai!"

Kai grumbled and drew his card after discarding his monster to the grave. "I dunno about this whole thing. It's hard enough finding out what to do really. Maybe we should trek up to the goddess tomorrow if it's nice. Hey Jack, take it. Double Breaker."

"Jerk," said Jack as he took a sip of his juice and drew his card after adding both shield cards to his hand. "Who ever knew that we'd spend a whole day playing Duel Masters." He then tapped four mana and said, "Aura Blast for four. Kai, you just experienced sweet death to your monsters."

"I'm just glad you brought these games from the mainland," said Kai as he checked his cards, discarding the ones that had just died as Grey passed his turn after summoning a monster. "Can you imagine how long it's been since I've seen a card different from a poker one? Hell, a chessboard would have been fun to see in the town. Tap five, Ultimate Force, tap those two plus five more, Hanusa, Radiance Elemental. Die Grey cause I bust your shields up!"

Grey grumbled as his last two shields were broken. "I'm open," he muttered as Jack took his turn and in turn, wiped out Kai's last shield and Grey's own monster. "Maybe we should switch to another game."

Cliff reached down and thumbed through Jack's pack which held a long white box and opened it up while still reading Jack's Manga. "There's Magic the Gathering, Yu-Gi-Oh..."

"Pass," chorused everyone as Kai remembered his crushing defeat in the Multiplayer game last time around.

"More Duel Masters decks, Magi Nation, Lord of the Rings, Naruto, Digimon, Pokemon, Shaman King, Ani-Mayhem, VS System..."

"We'll finish this game up and probably dig into the manga," said Jack as he drew his card and summoned it. "Hanusa blasts Grey out of the game."

"Ergh," said Grey as he scooped up his cards on the field and put them into a pile. "Glad you left your dad a forwarding address so he could send you this stuff." Kai took his turn and summoned a Burning Mane.

"I know," said Jack, nodding. "It's not good to bring my Computer and my GBA here, but at least card games are fun. I'll send dad some G's and have him pick up some new cards and manga for me in Flowerbud City." Taking a chance, he summoned a Blocker.

"Eat sweet death Jack," said Kai as he grinned and powered up his monster, blasting through Hanusa and then striking Jack with the monster he summoned last turn. "You just got your butt kicked by a Burning Mane."

Jack shrugged as he scooped up his field and Kai cleaned his side up. "So.. who gets to cook today?"

"It's probably my turn," said Cliff as he set down the manga and picked up a copy of Naruto. "I'll get on that as soon as I'm done here."

"Knowing how big your stack is right there," said Grey, motioning to the stack that stood on the table beside Cliff. "You'll spend the whole afternoon reading."

"Damn right," said Cliff as he turned a page. "But I'll get going on these things sooner or later."

Jack sighed and picked up the box and thumbed through the decks. "Lets go with Magi Nation."

"I call Core," said Kai, earning a glare from Grey.

"You suck, I wanted it," he said, taking the Underground deck while Jack picked up a Relic Universal Deck.

Surprisingly, Cliff demonstrated his deck shuffling abilities by picking up a Cald deck, selecting his starting Magi and searching with one hand. "I'm in," said Cliff as his gaze never wavered from the manga in his left hand. It was eerily representative of Kakashi reading Ichi Ichi Paradise.

The boys sweatdropped as Jack said, "He's been playing that deck too much."

"You'd think that, huh?" said Grey as the boys rolled their die and Kai went first.

* * *

"This should fit," said Karen as she handed Katie a long t-shirt that belonged to Ann. She then winced as thunder boomed overhead. "Wow, that was loud."

"I'm sure grandpa won't mind me sleeping over," said Katie as she unwrapped her hair from the towel it was bundled in. Damp strands of blonde hair fell down past her shoulders as she pulled the t-shirt over her head. "It's a bit tight across the chest."

Mary giggled as Elli hid a smile under a hand. Karen shrugged as she handed the other girl a pair of plaid shorts. "You'll need these too if you want supper."

"Who's cooking today?" Elli asked, turning towards Mary.

Mary tapped her lip and said, "I think Cliff is. That means we can expect some weird food from somewhere unknown."

Newly clad in a t-shirt and shorts, Karen padded out to the door and headed into the hallway where the smell of food wafted down from the kitchen. "Smells good," said Karen as she sat down next to Grey who scooped up his cards and placed them in the box. "What's for dinner?"

"Chicken, sliced cucumbers and rice," said Cliff, tapping the mixing spoon on the side. "No, I didn't go out and kill one of the chickens," he said at the horrified expression on the other girls who came in. "Ronald gets supplies of frozen meats from the mainland. It's perfectly all right."

"I'd hate to be around this place if you DID take out one of the chickens," said Jack with a grin. Elli smacked him on the head and he rubbed it ruefully.

At Katie's questioning expression, Grey said, "Very few of people from Mineral Town eat meat. And if they do, it's a special occasion. Any meat is fish since no one likes butchering cows or chickens."

"Of course not, it's barbaric," said Karen hotly. "If Jack was going to run a beef and chicken farm instead of raising them for eggs and milk, we'd have run him out of town."

"And they call the place backwards," said Cliff with an exaggerated sigh.

Grey shrugged as he set the table. "Gramps is a big meat eater. Although veggies is also something he likes."

Seeing a vegan vs carnivore battle brewing, Jack stepped in. "Okay then people, lets get to the food. Kai, help me out here, slacker."

"Yes kimosabe," remarked Kai as he picked up the rice.


End file.
